Destiny
by EsmeAmelia
Summary: COMPLETE. Sequel to My Mother. It's been three years since Padme was unfrozen, Luke's ready to open his Jedi academy, and Han and Leia are raising their children. However, a wedding and a new mission might disrupt the family's smoothness.
1. Chapter 1

"Destiny"

By EsmeAmelia

AN: Yes, here it is, the long-awaited sequel to my "hit" story, "My Mother." I'm putting this first chapter up now mainly so the fans of "My Mother" can put it on their Alert list or whatever before they forget about the first story. Be forewarned - updates to this story might be slow since I'm writing it simultaneously with my other AU, "Father and Son."

And yeah, I don't own SW or any of the characters in this story except Rianna, Nia, Senon, Cre, Hella, little Padme, and whatever other original characters my crazy mind might introduce in this sequel.

Chapter 1

Padme strode into her daughter's apartment, her own footsteps soon drowned out by the pitter-patter of a child's bare feet. Her mouth burst into a smile as the source of those footsteps dashed up to her, wearing only a yellow shirt and bright blue panties, her grinning mouth bearing those cute little baby teeth.

"Nana!" Jaina shouted enthusiastically. "Nana! Nana! Naaaaaa-na!"

"Hey Jaina, sweetie!" Padme exclaimed. She bent over and scooped her two-year-old granddaughter into her arms. "Where's Jacen?"

"Daddy dryin' Jacen," Jaina explained in her high voice. "He gotta baf."

"Oh I see," Padme said with a grin, her voice instinctively raising its pitch and her words becoming clearer.

"I gotta baf too!" Jaina continued. "See?"

Padme leaned closer to her granddaughter and inhaled deeply through her nose, breathing in the fruity scent of children's soap. "Mmmm, you smell all clean."

"I cean," the child repeated. "Daddy wash my hair an' I cose my eyes cuz I don't wanna get soap in dem."

Padme patted the girl's still-damp hair. "Well that's a good idea. Soap in your eyes can hurt."

"Yeah," said Jaina. "I getit in my eyes once an' I cwy."

"Oh, poor Jaina," Padme cooed. "But you didn't cry this time, did you?"

"Nope!" said the child, playfully shaking her head, whipping her wet hair around, slightly moistening her grandmother's face.

"Jaina, do we have a visitor?" a voice playfully inquired, causing both adult and child to look up and see Leia standing in the living room doorway, her hair down in soft curls over her shoulders, a baby boy in her arms.

"Look!" Jaina exclaimed, pointing a small finger at her mother. "Dere's Mommy an' Ani!"

"Little Ani!" shouted Padme, putting her granddaughter down so she could get closer to her daughter and her youngest grandson. Leia and Han's third child had been born a few months ago, an extra-special delight for Padme when his parents named him. If she still had any doubts on whether or not Leia had forgiven her father, they were all erased when she named her baby after him.

Padme rubbed little Anakin's fuzzy head. He stared at her with his large eyes for a few moments and then broke into a smile, motivating his grandmother to kiss his soft forehead, practically ignoring his mother.

"So Mother," Leia said in a rather loud voice, "is there any special reason why you're here?"

Padme finally looked back up at her daughter. "Oh, nothing much..." She gave a mischievous grin. "...I just wanted to congratulate my soon-to-be Jedi Knight."

Leia scrunched her face as if Anakin's diaper was dirty. "Mother, it's really not such a big deal. It only means that I've trained enough to be a Jedi Knight if I wanted to be."

"But Luke's knighting you in front of the whole galaxy tomorrow - that should at least be a bit of a big deal," Padme said playfully. "Not everyone gets named a Jedi Knight at the opening ceremony of a new Jedi Academy, you know."

Leia's face still didn't relax. "Mother, I'll still only be a part-time Jedi. My life is first and foremost about being a mother and a politician."

Padme smiled at her daughter as she stroked her grandson's head, her pride unwavering. There were times when she found it hard to believe that it had been more than three years since Leia freed her from the carbonite encasement that had held her for so long. In fact, there were times when she couldn't believe that she had been freed at all. There were still some mornings when she expected to open her eyes and find herself dead - all that happened since giving birth had been an illusion. The ability to touch and interact with her grandchildren was still a wonder to her.

"Come on - I think Jacen will want to see you," said Leia, pushing her baby son up to steady his weight and heading for the twins' bedroom, closely followed by Jaina. Padme smiled to herself one final time before following them.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

The two women, one toddler, and one baby found Jacen bouncing on his bed, giggling loudly, soaking wet - and completely nude. His dripping brown hair clung to his head, curling up only slightly from the body's movement. Next to the bed stood a disheveled and almost as wet Han, trying in vain to wrap a towel around his son, not noticing the crowd that had just entered.

"Nana!" Jacen shouted, bouncing higher, waving both his little hands at once.

Han whipped his head towards the doorway, a sheepish grin on his face. "Oh, hey Mom. Any chance of you helpin' me out here?"

Padme playfully put a hand on her hip. "Now Han, after two years I would think you'd learn how to dry a child."

Before Han could respond, Jacen leapt off the bed and ran up to his grandmother. "Nana! I miss you!"

"I missed you too, Jacen...even though it's only been two days," Padme said as she hugged her wet grandson.

The hug got the small boy to hold still long enough for his father to sneak a towel around him. "Gotcha!" he shouted, to which Jacen responded with shrieks and giggles, soon joined by his sister, mother, and grandmother.

"So Mom," Han said as he rubbed his son's head with the towel, "I hear you're speakin' at the ceremony tomorrow?"

Padme shrugged. "Yeah, but it's not a long speech."

"So you're givin' a speech, Leia's gettin' knighted, but all I get to do is sit in the audience and watch the kids." Han's eyebrows lowered in mock anger. "Is that fair?"

"I thought you didn't _want_ to give a speech," Leia said with a knowing grin, gently pinching her husband's cheek.

"That's beside the point."

Han's little protest was all the distraction Jacen needed to wriggle out of his father's arms and once more grab his grandmother's legs, soaking her skirt. It was only when Jaina looked up with her cheeky grin and exclaimed, "Jacen naked!" that the adults noticed what had happened.

Han groaned. "Jacen, if I've told you once I've told you a million times..."

He didn't get to finish his scold, since the little boy took sanctuary behind his grandmother, sandwiched between her and Leia.

"Jacen," Padme said as she looked down at her grandson, trying in vain not to smile, "come on out. Your father's getting angry at you."

"Daddy not gonna be mad," he explained. "He wanna play wit' me. He chasin' me wit' da towel to play. We do dis all da time!"

Even Han had to laugh at that.


	2. Chapter 2

"Destiny"

By EsmeAmelia

AN: Thanks to all who reviewed! Just a reminder - as with the last story, aside from Luke's Jedi Academy and Leia's kids, the EU will be basically IGNORED. Sorry Luke/Mara fans, but Luke is NOT ending up with Mara in this timeline, so there's no use begging for it.

Chapter 2

"Mother!" Luke exclaimed once he ran into Padme in the backstage area of the ceremony room - the same room where he and Han were given their medals of honor all those years ago.

"Luke!" Padme immediately wrapped her arms around her son, squeezing him close to her, feeling him squeezing her with a similar intensity. "I'm so proud of you." She pulled out slightly, allowing only enough distance between their faces to look into his eyes. "Can you believe it's finally time?"

A slightly pinkish tint went to Luke's cheeks, dramatically contrasting with his black Jedi robes. "It's not opening the school that I'm nervous about."

"What do you mean?"

Luke gulped, his eyes shifting from side to side, as if looking for someone. His breath became far more audible as he slowly reached into his pocket. "Well...you know how Rianna's speaking today?"

Padme nodded, the smile on her face expanding.

Luke breathed deeply, his face developing a rather sheepish grin. "Well..." He held up his hand, showing his mother the object he held.

Padme was unable to prevent herself from emitting a happy gasp when she saw the golden ring with the single clear stone. "Luke..." she said between breaths, "...you're finally going to...?"

"Shh!" Luke said hastily, his voice lowering to a whisper as he slipped the ring back into his pocket. "It's a surprise for the ceremony."

"Sorry," Padme whispered. She once more gathered her son into a tight embrace, patting his back. Ever since Luke and the former Queen of Naboo had admitted their feelings for each other on the day Jaina and Jacen were born, Padme had been waiting for this. She remembered the pain Luke had been in when he thought he had lost the woman he loved to the dark side, thanking fate or the Force or whatever that it hadn't ended that way. Her heart started racing in exhilaration that she would finally get to see her child's wedding.

"Good luck," she whispered in her son's ear.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Daddy, when's it gonna stawt?" Jacen said in an impatient voice, standing up on the bench for the forth time.

"Soon," Han said, reaching out to sit his son back down - which was difficult, since he had Anakin in his arms and Jaina sitting on his other side. He didn't mind his son's misbehavior, though - it helped take his mind off how weird it felt to be on Yavin 4 again, back in this same room where he'd gotten his medal in that different time. Of course, he supposed it made sense to open the Jedi Academy on a world that was out of the way, basically uninhabited, and the site of an important battle.

Han glanced around the room, unable to see a single empty space in the benches. He caught various people he knew - Chewie and his family, Lando, Wedge, Admiral Ackbar, various other members of the Alliance, Jar Jar Binks, Nia the doctor who had delivered Han's children, her sister Senon, their friends Cre and Hella, Padme's sister Sola, her daughters Pooja and Ryoo, along with Ryoo's husband Siran and her daughter little Padme. Little Padme also seemed anxious for the ceremony to start - she too was standing up on the bench.

"Daddy, I want juice," said Jaina.

"Hold on a sec, sweetheart," said Han. "It's starting." He ran his fingers through his daughter's hair. "We're gonna see Mommy and Nana and Uncle Luke soon."

"Yay!" Jacen shouted a little too loudly as Mon Mothma stepped onto the stage, accompanied by an elegant fanfare. Her white dress dragged behind her as she walked, her chin held as highly as it could be without looking like she was gazing upward.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the President of the New Republic Senate began in her broad, accented voice, "we are gathered here today to witness a very important event in the New Republic's short history." Her hands elegantly rested on the sides of the podium she stood behind. "Today, we celebrate a return to the old Republic's history, a return to the days when peace and justice were protected."

Mild applause broke out, forcing Mon to pause before speaking again.

"The end of the war with the Empire brought hope not only to the galaxy's future, but to the future of an order believed to be dead. The Jedi, extinguished with the old Republic, can now be relighted, thanks to the last remaining Jedi's willingness to teach others. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight, commander in the Rebellion, and hero of the galaxy."

The entire room burst into applause as Luke walked onstage, Han slapping his knee since he was holding a baby, but he probably still ended up making the loudest sound (though he wondered why in the galaxy the kid chose to wear all black for this event).

"Unca Luke! Unca Luke!" the twins screamed on either side of their father. They both stood up in their seats, but this time Han made no attempt to pull them back down. He figured they deserved to have some fun.

Luke stepped behind the podium just as Mon Mothma walked offstage. He breathed heavily enough to be heard by the audience, a nervous grin on his face.

"Welcome, everyone," he said, his voice echoing around the room. "Ever since the defeat of the Empire, I have waited for this day when the Jedi can finally rise again. The great Master Yoda's dying words to me were, 'Pass on what you have learned,' and today marks an honor to his memory, as well as the memory of all the other Jedi who gave their lives for peace and justice."

The room broke into small applause before Luke raised his hand.

"I would like to take this opportunity for a moment of silence for those Jedi, particularly for my father, Anakin Skywalker, who laid down his life defeating the Emperor."

Han bowed his head, looking down at his baby son, named for that hero who saved not only the galaxy, but his grandchildren. He gulped, remembering how the twins had nearly died during birth, saved by Anakin's ghost working inside Padme's body. He kissed little Anakin's head, once more thanking the stars that there had been no complications during his birth.

After the audience raised their heads, Luke continued with his speech. "As the president has informed you, I am currently the last surviving Jedi. But..." He detached his deactivated lightsaber from his belt. "...that fact will soon be no more. This Academy will see the birth of many more Jedi - beginning today. I present to you now my sister, Princess Leia Organa Solo, commander in the Rebellion, senator in the New Republic, hero of the galaxy, and soon, Jedi Knight."

The sound of Leia's high heel shoes seemed to bounce off the room's walls more clearly than regular shoes. She wore the same dress she had worn at that medal ceremony, likely on purpose. Her smile looked like she was straining to make it extra wide in order to hide her nervousness.

"Mommy!" the twins shouted, waving at their mother. Leia actually gave a discreet wave back.

Luke stepped out from behind the podium and activated his lightsaber, after which Leia's knee dropped to the floor and her head bowed down. Han didn't think he'd ever see her in such a submissive position.

"Repeat after me," Luke said. "I, Leia Organa Solo..."

"I, Leia Organa Solo..." the princess repeated.

"...do solemnly swear..."

"...do solemnly swear..."

"...to pursue my knowledge of the Force..."

"...to pursue my knowledge of the Force..."

"...to use the Force in defense of peace and justice..."

"...to use the Force in defense of peace and justice..."

"...and resist the dark side with all my will."

"...and resist the dark side with all my will."

Hardly a second after Leia finished the oath, Luke swung his lightsaber and ceased its motion inches above her shoulder. "Leia Organa Solo," he said loudly, "I proclaim you..." He flicked the lightsaber from one shoulder to the other. "...a Jedi Knight."

"WOO!!!" Han hollered from the audience, a large smile bursting onto his face. He thought he caught her face scrunching in embarrassment as she rose, but the audience bursting into thunderous applause meant she had to smile and bow for them.

Han wondered if he had doomed himself to receive one of his wife's lectures once they got home.

Luke made his way back to the podium as Leia stepped offstage. "Thank you, Leia," he said before facing the audience once more. "This Jedi Academy has come to be with the help of many hands. The senators, the workers, the people who assisted me in my quests to find other Force-sensitives, the Force-sensitives I have found who wish to continue the Jedi's legacy. I would love to thank everyone individually, but that would take days, and I don't think you want to sit here for all that time."

Luke waited for the laughter to die down before continuing.

"However, there are two people very dear to me without whom this Academy could never come to be. Both have served as noble rulers of the beautiful planet Naboo, and both continue their dedicated service to the New Republic to this very day."

"Nana comin' now?" Jacen asked, whispering in his father's ear, tickling it with his breath.

"I think so," Han whispered back.

"The first is someone with a most unusual story," Luke continued. "She has been a queen and a senator, and then after spending twenty-three years in deathlike hibernation, a mother and an ambassador. She lost her husband to the dark side, but then she helped to save someone else from it. She is one of the strongest people I have ever met - I am proud to call her my mother." He raised his hand to the side. "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Padme Naberrie Amidala, former Queen of Naboo, senator in the old Republic, ambassador for the New Republic, and my mother."

The crowd broke into wild applause as soon as Padme took her first step onto the stage. Her royal blue robes dragged behind her like she was still a queen, the two buns above her ears looked like a crown. Even when she reached the podium, she had to wait nearly a full minute before the applause died down.

"I am deeply honored to be here," Padme began. "This is like coming home again for me, since I remember the days of the old Jedi Order. In those days, the Jedi were more than simply a group of people dedicated to protecting the galaxy. They were a symbol of peace and unity - a reminder of how every sentient being is capable of so much good. My husband, Anakin Skywalker, was a testimony to that ideal."

Han flinched slightly, hoping no one would boo his mother-in-law. He once more looked down at baby Anakin, stroking his forehead, remembering how hard it had been to make peace with his father-in-law.

Fortunately, no boos came and Padme was able to continue her speech without interruption. "He performed many heroic deeds when he was a Jedi, yes, but his greatest moment occurred after he was thought lost to the darkness. He broke the bondage around his soul to save his son, showing us all that we too can break the bondage around our souls. I hope the students at this Jedi Academy can look to his conquering of the dark side for inspiration and strength. May the Force be with this school and its aspiring Jedi."

The applause that followed Padme's speech was even louder than the applause that had preceded it - so much so that Han was tempted to put the baby in his infant seat so he could cover his ears. He thought Anakin might start crying if this noise continued, but widening his eyes was the only reaction the infant gave.

After what seemed like five straight minutes of applause, Luke was finally able to continue. "My father's story should indeed serve as an inspiration. He spent a great deal of his life in darkness, but in the end he returned to the light." He paused, the smile on his face twisted in an expression that looked like a mixture of thrill and embarrassment.

_Must be time for Rianna,_ Han thought, grinning slightly.

"My father is not the only one to have conquered the dark side," Luke continued. "There is another story that can inspire the people who study here - and the hero of that story is here with us today. All of use, Force-sensitive or not, can learn from her courage. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my greatest pleasure to introduce Rianna Trenn formerly Queen of Naboo, who brought her planet to the New Republic."

"R'an-na," Jaina said, grinning at her father as the ex-queen stepped onto the stage. Rianna had stepped down from the throne soon after Anakin was born, returning the planet to its tradition of electing rulers. Han wasn't sure exactly what she was doing now, only that it had something to do with helping out the current queen.

Rianna breathed deeply when she reached the podium, savoring the applause. Her mane of black hair was evenly distributed on either side of her tan head and well-combed, but in this light a few stray hairs were noticeable. She wore a long red dress with blue sleeves that cut off just past her elbows, the same shade of which also trimmed the bodice.

"Well..." she said in her accented voice, "...I must say that I never thought I would be here." She allowed the audience a moment of laughter before continuing. "Nearly three years ago, I discovered that I was Force-sensitive. It was shocking, unbelievable, and possibly more than anything, frightening. You students who are going to study here may have felt a similar way when Luke showed you what you are."

Han turned his head from side to side to look at all his children. They would never discover they were Force-sensitive - they would always know it.

"The one who showed me the truth about myself was someone I used to hate so bitterly, so completely," Rianna continued, shooting a brief smile at Luke. "Blinded by my inability to let go of the past, I resisted his teachings, seeking comfort from another source - but that other source nearly cost me my life, my freedom, and my soul." She looked again at Luke. "Luke will tell you that it was my own strength that let me finally resist the dark side, but I could never have done it without his mother Padme. She was the one who helped me truly see that I could turn away."

Yet another round of applause for Padme followed even before Rianna raised her hand for people to clap.

Rianna leaned forward, concentrating on the first row of benches, where the Force-sensitives who were going to be training at the school were seated. "Future Jedi, your lives will indeed be difficult. There may be times when you too will be tempted by the dark side. Should that happen, I hope you will remember that you too can overcome it. The dark side is only stronger than you if you allow it to be. Remember this, and may the Force be with you."

After the long applause finally died down, Luke stepped next to the podium. "Thank you Rianna." He was looking not at the audience but straight at her - Han was sure he caught the sound of him breathing heavily. "Rianna...I'd like to take this moment to ask you a question that is completely unrelated to the Jedi Academy."

Rianna's eyes widened in puzzlement as she turned to face the Jedi. "What is it, Luke?"

Luke gave a sheepish grin. "Well...maybe it does have something to do with it. I mean...it shows that although we're rebuilding the Jedi Order, we're not going to repeat their mistakes..."

Rianna's hand slowly went to her chest, which was rising and falling in a noticeably intense fashion. "Luke..."

Luke dropped to one knee just as Leia had - but for a very different reason. After staring wide-eyed up at the former queen for several moments, he reached into his pocket and produced something too small for Han to see, though he figured he could guess what it was. The Jedi held the tiny object up to Rianna, his hand trembling.

"Rianna...will you marry me?"

The entire room plunged into silence. Even the children seemed to sense that this was something not to be interrupted. All eyes were on the former queen, whose eyes were bulged as if under a spell, her mouth curving ever-so-slightly with every long breath.

"Yes!!!" she shouted, startling every soul - Luke probably most of all. "Yes, yes, I will!!" She dove down from behind the podium and tackled Luke in a large hug, pushing him backwards onto the floor. Within seconds, she was lying on top of him, their lips locked in a passionate kiss, completely oblivious to the thousands of eyes watching them.

Han suspected the entire galaxy must be sharing the audience's wild applause.


	3. Chapter 3

"Destiny"

By EsmeAmelia

AN: Hey all, thanks for reviewing!

Chapter 3

Once the ceremony ended, nearly everyone retreated to the recreation room for the following reception. Some lingered behind to chat with each other, but one exited alone, heading away from the rec room, down one of the many hallways, not knowing exactly where she was going.

"Rianna Trenn...Skywalker," she whispered to herself, building the words hesitantly on each other, the combination sounding completely foreign to her ears and yet at the same time welcome. "Rianna Trenn Skywalker..." The second time she put extra emphasis on the last word. "Rianna Trenn Skywalker..." The third time a sense of irony entered her head as she remembered how that last word was once the only name she would address him as.

"Rianna Trenn Skywalker..." Her voice became louder, the words beginning to sound sweeter, rolling off of her tongue as if they were part of a new and exciting language she was only now beginning to understand.

"Rianna Trenn Skywalker...Rianna Trenn Skywalker...Rianna Trenn Skywalker..." Her body seemed to levitate with every step down the dimmed hallways, her shoes echoing off the stone walls. She waved her hand in front of her eyes, letting herself get only glimpses of the glistening stone that adorned her finger, her illogical side fearful that if she took a close look at it the ring would vanish.

_I'm engaged. _

Those two words seemed to be flowing through her veins in place of blood, making her heart work extra-hard to keep her body nourished. It seemed as though in all the twenty years that she had been alive, none of it had prepared her for this moment, nor would any of it ever shine as brightly as this moment. Her times with Luke were blurring through her mind, from their initial struggles with each other to this climaxing day.

With almost no awareness on how she had gotten here, she found herself in one of the classrooms. Her footsteps slowed to the even pace of a woman walking down the aisle on her wedding day, her eyes taking in the many lightsabers hanging on the wall, constructed by Luke and Leia for use by the students. The silver tubes distorted her reflection, enlarging her cheeks.

The first time she held a lightsaber danced in her head, how she had gone through her first training session in darkness, overtaken by Palpatine's spirit. It was as vague as a long-ago dream now, yet the thought still caused her to shiver. Luke had given her more lightsaber training sessions since then - she had actually become quite skilled with the blade...but there always seemed to be something alienating about that weapon. She had refused when Luke offered to make her one of her own.

Now she stared at one that was hanging level to her eyes. Her fingers twitched, aching to feel that cold metal between them, her body yearning for the blade's heat. Almost without thinking, she stuck out her hand, harnessing the Force to grab the tube. It flew off the hook and landed neatly in her outstretched hand. Almost immediately, her thumb pushed in to activate it.

A bright purple stream of light emerged from the tube, the blade's soft humming tickling her ears, emitting heat that blazed her face. She squinted from the glare, yet she had no desire to look away. _"You control the blade - it does not control you,"_ Luke had said once, the first time she held a lightsaber since conquering the dark side, yet she was never sure if she believed it.

She took a step forward, swinging the blade to her right, assuming a stance that was almost battle-like. After holding the pose for a few seconds, she whipped the blade around her as if fighting an invisible enemy, launching herself into a sort of dance with the lightsaber, gracefully mimicking the moves of a duel.

"Rianna?"

She froze, the weapon trembling in her hands. It was with great difficulty that she forced herself to turn around and face the one who addressed her - it took the effort of jumping into cold water.

Padme was standing in the large doorway, giving no indication of surprise. "Rianna, you're wanted at the reception - Luke wants to toast your engagement."

Rianna stared at her future mother-in-law, making no movement except deactivating the lightsaber. Her green eyes widened, scarcely blinking, her body waiting for Padme to make the first move.

Padme walked closer to the younger woman. "Rianna, what are you doing?"

Rianna felt like her vocal cords had forgotten how to function. "I...was just...just..."

Padme smiled, her eyes looking upward as her head shook slightly in a smug manner. "You're talking as if I didn't just see you holding a lightsaber." Before Rianna could respond, the ambassador strode up to her and plucked the lightsaber from her hand, holding it up as if examining it.

"Don't tell Luke..." Rianna muttered.

"Why not?" asked Padme, looking at her distorted reflection in the lightsaber's handle. "He knows you don't want to be a Jedi, doesn't he?"

Rianna swallowed. "Padme..."

"You can call me 'Mom' if you want to," Padme interrupted, hanging the lightsaber back on its hook. "You're going to be marrying my son, after all."

The ex-queen felt that she was probably blushing. Her now-empty hand waved in front of her face, her eyes fully staring at the engagement ring for the first time since Luke had presented it to her. The gem sparkled, briefly flashing all imaginable colors. How much did it cost Luke to obtain? Did she want to know?

"Strange..." she murmured, "...I've been engaged less than an hour and I'm already wondering..."

"Wondering what?"

Rianna turned her hand, letting Padme see the ring. "How much this cost, for one thing."

Padme laughed. "Well, I'm sure it didn't put Luke in _too _much debt." She reached over and ran her finger over the ring. "Now the wedding itself - that might be a different story."

Rianna snickered through her nose. "Well...that's not all I'm thinking about." She rotated her hand, letting herself once more look at that stone. Her mind saw herself spending an eternity with Luke, which brought her both exhilaration and anxiety.

Padme patted her future daughter-in-law's shoulder. "It's natural to have doubts, Rianna. I'd be worried about you if you _didn't_ have doubts, but if you love him - and I'm sure you do..."

"Children," Rianna said suddenly, shocking herself as much as she appeared to shock Padme.

The former senator's eyebrow lifted. "Well...yes, you'll probably have children, but think about the wedding before you start worrying about them..."

Rianna's hand slipped down to her stomach as if she were already pregnant. "What if we have children...they'll be...well, like us, won't they?"

"Force-sensitive?" asked Padme. After the younger woman gave a hesitant nod, Padme added, "Rianna, you shouldn't let that scare you. Look at Leia. She had children."

"Her children only have one Force-sensitive parent," Rianna said in a louder voice. "Mine will have two." Her green eyes widened at her future mother-in-law. "Padme, you don't know what I went through - not even Luke knows that. For all your witnessing of the dark side, you've never actually experienced it." She gave a heavy swallow. "How...how could I put my own children in danger of that?"

Padme sighed gently. "Rianna, to exist as a Force-sensitive isn't a curse."

"But what if our children are different even from other Force-sensitives? It wasn't common for Jedi to breed with each other, was it? Suppose it makes our children even more susceptible to the dark side."

Padme sighed again. "Well, I can't say I'm an expert on Force genetics, but I can say you shouldn't let fear determine whether or not you have children."

Rianna's eyes drifted back to the ring. Luke would want children - she was almost certain of that. And if she was completely honest with herself, she would too. But what danger would a child of two Force-sensitives be in?

Padme gripped both of Rianna's shoulders, letting her feel the gentle pressure of her future mother-in-law's hands. "Rianna, there will be plenty of time to think about that later. Right now, you've got a public and a future husband waiting for you."

Those words let the former queen momentarily forget her concern. She gave a tiny smile as she nodded. "You're right. Lead the way...Mother."


	4. Chapter 4

"Destiny"

By EsmeAmelia

AN: Hi all! Sorry it took me ages to put this up - I have been so freaking BUSY with school and work and all.

Chapter 4

Leia sat up in bed, gazing out at the dormitory where she and her family were spending the night - the place that would soon house Jedi students. It carried an old-fashioned, homey feel with its stone walls, large windows, and simple furniture. Wooden chairs, wooden dresser, wooden table - and yet with enough varying shades of brown to keep the room from appearing monotone. This would be a fine place for an aspiring Jedi to stay, Leia thought with satisfaction.

Han trudged into the room, the sleeves of his light blue pajamas wrinkled up to his elbows. "Finally asleep," he said through a loud exhale.

"All of them?"

"All of them."

Leia gave her husband an approving smile. "See, I told you a story would calm them down."

Han snorted as he flopped onto the bed. "After about fifteen times. It was 'read it again, Daddy, read it again!" over and over. Least Anakin slept through it." He ground his teeth. "I'm tellin' ya, if I have to read about Tedstle the Lonely Ewok ever again..."

"Oh, you poor baby," Leia chided. She reached over to rub his shoulder. "You're so overworked."

Han stretched his arms. "Whenever Luke has kids, I'm givin' Rianna _Tedsle the Lonely Ewok _at her baby shower to exact my revenge."

"So you're still angry about the way she used to treat you?"

"Yup," declared Han, pulling the covers over his legs.

Leia gave a light laugh. "But apparently not angry enough to refuse to be in her wedding."

"Hey, I'm gonna be _Luke's_ best man, not hers," Han said with mock haughtiness.

"Well then, you're not angry enough to try to stop Mother from being her matron of honor," Leia said with a grin. "Or stop me from being her bridesmaid."

Leia's grin seemed to be contagious - it spread to Han as he slowly shook his head. "Luke's gonna be marrying Queen Mean - who knew?"

"She's not _that_ bad, Han," Leia said knowingly. "Even you know that."

"Well...she's not a Sith anymore - guess that's one thing to be said in her favor."

Both Leia and Han laughed at that statement. "Seriously," Leia said after she caught her breath, "the only surprising part is that Luke waited so long to propose."

"Yeah," agreed Han. "Course, that might've been just cause he was press shy." He playfully poked his wife's arm. "Remember the 'Wedding of the Millennium'?"

Leia groaned. "Don't remind me of _that._"

" 'The Rebellion Heroes Princess Leia Organa and General Han Solo, joined together in what is fast becoming the largest wedding the galaxy has seen since before the formation of the Empire,' " Han recited.

"I wonder what the largest wedding in the galaxy was before ours," said Leia, her eyebrows lifted.

Han smirked. "I'd worry more about whether or not we're about to be upstaged." He slid his body down until his shoulder was resting against his pillow. "You can bet they'll make a big deal outta the son of Vader marryin' the daughter of an Imp soldier. Or maybe they'll see it as the son of an ex Naboo queen marryin' another ex Naboo queen. Maybe it'll be a wedding that'll bring together the Empire and the Rebellion or some crap like that."

Leia shook her head in a disbelieving manner. "I think someone's read _Tedstle the Lonely Ewok_ one too many times."

"Well I blame you for that," grinned Han, sinking under the covers, nestling his head in the pillow.

Leia smirked as she turned off the lights. "Next time, just tell them one of your stories about how you escaped from mortal danger. That'll put them to sleep right away."

"HEY!!"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Pain.

Pain engulfing his senses.

Pain consuming his entire body.

Pain overtaking his mind.

Where was he...what was happening...those were the only thoughts his head could piece together. It was only a horrendous cackle that brought the answers into those split seconds between jolts of unbearable pain.

"And now, young Skywalker," the deep, vicious voice declared, " you will die."

His insides vibrated as if they were about to explode. Nothing reached his vision beyond flashes of light. There was nothing...nothing except pain...and the desperate wish for death...

Then suddenly, it all ceased. For a brief second he thought he had finally died, but no, his slowly clearing vision revealed his attacker being lifted off the floor and carried to his own doom. Luke smiled up at his savior, the one all thought heartless, but it turned out that he was right. There was indeed good in her.

Queen Rianna smiled back at Luke before throwing the Emperor over the rail, eliminating the Sith without and the Sith within.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Luke awoke finding himself still smiling in the physical world. He opened his eyes to a level of darkness he wasn't accustomed to on Coruscant, but then he remembered the events that had occurred that day. He supposed he should get used to the quiet, more natural world of Yavin 4 if he was going to be teaching here.

He reached up and turned on the light, revealing his bride-to-be sleeping next to him, breathing softly, the tiniest hint of a smile in her lips. Her thick black hair spread over the pillow; her bare arm embraced the blankets. She was possibly even more beautiful when she slept than when she was awake, although Luke supposed that her magnificent green eyes would magnify her beauty when awake.

And she would soon be his wife. That concept still felt slightly alien, yet at the same time absolutely wonderful. He suddenly felt like all exhaustion had been sucked out of him - all he needed to replenish himself was to look at her.

After staring at her perfect tan skin for a few minutes, Luke's real hand began to itch to touch it. His fingers felt as though they contained tiny magnets being drawn towards Rianna's body, but he wouldn't allow them to move. In the time they had been in this relationship, she had allowed that kind of intimacy only on a few occasions, always timed so there would be absolutely no chance of pregnancy. Luke bit his lip - it had probably been fewer than five times in more than two years. Usually, sleeping together literally meant _sleeping _together and nothing more. Now that they were engaged, Luke had thought she would be more lenient, but she had refused it tonight, implying that she wouldn't. He shifted his body, creaking the mattress, willing himself not to grow stiff from her presence.

But he would respect her wishes.

Just like how he would respect her wishes to not become a Jedi.

The dream danced in his head - he'd had similar ones before. Dreams of his girlfriend as a hero. True, she already was a hero in real life, but he dreamed of her as a _different_ kind of hero. The sort of hero she _could_ be if she were only willing.

He breathed deeply, feeling wide-awake and discontent. Looking at his fiancee only stirred up his mind and drove sleep out further. Maybe he needed to clear his mind.

Still finding himself unable to take his eyes off Rianna, he inched his way out of bed, tiptoed toward the door, and after staring at her for another moment, slipped out of the room.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Even with Rianna out of sight, Luke still felt sweat trickling down his legs. Her image remained in his head, her small breath still sounding in his ear. He made his way down the stone hall, his bare feet making no sound on the carpeted floor. So intense was the darkness that he almost didn't notice a silhouetted figure standing next to a large window.

"Mother?" he whispered.

Padme gave a startled jump, whipping her head around to face her addresser. "Luke? What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," said Luke.

Padme slowly turned back to face the window, the moonlike light reflected off the planet Yavin illuminating her hair. "I couldn't sleep. I think I'm too used to the noise on Coruscant...even Naboo isn't as quiet as this."

Luke stepped closer to his mother, his eyes beginning to make out her features. "Are you sure that's the only reason?"

Though most of her face was in shadow, Luke thought he caught an embarrassed grin on Padme's face as she turned to face her son. "Well...I was actually kept awake by excitement that my son's getting married."

Luke swallowed, shifting his weight from foot to foot. "Yeah...your son's getting married."

"All right, what about you?" Padme continued. "What brought you here this late?"

Luke stared past his mother out at the hazy view of Yavin 4's jungle environment. "A dream...I guess."

"What sort of dream?"

Luke swallowed again, concentrating on the tall trees beyond the window. "It was about Rianna. She saved me from the Emperor. And well, that got me thinking..." His voice seemed to wander away after that.

"It got you thinking about how she doesn't want to be a Jedi?" Padme asked knowingly.

Luke gave a hesitant nod. "Maybe...maybe I'm preventing her from reaching her potential by letting her do this..."

"It's _her _choice, Luke, not yours. You're not 'letting' her do anything."

Luke ran his artificial hand against the stone wall, making a small scraping noise. "I know...it's just..."

He felt Padme's hand on his shoulder. "There's something else, isn't there?"

Luke suddenly wanted to concentrate on his knuckles. His stomach did a backflip at the thought of Padme figuring out what else was bothering him.

"Mother, what's it like being married?" he said quickly, asking the first question that came into his mind.

He waited for his mother's answer as if he were waiting for a blaster to go off. Finally she said in a small voice, "Maybe you'd be better asking Leia that. I didn't get much time with it...even when Ani was alive we couldn't be together much...him always on missions and me always in meetings..."

"What made you decide to marry him?"

Padme gently reached over and pushed Luke's cheek so that their eyes were meeting. "The same thing that made you decide to marry Rianna. I knew there would be hard times. I knew I might even find myself regretting it on some occasions, but I also knew that if I didn't do it, I'd be mourning it for the rest of my life." She ran her thumb down his hairline. "Don't you feel like that too?"

Rianna's face appeared in the Jedi's mind, slowly giving him a definite answer. After a long breath, he gave his mother a nod and retreated back to the bedroom.


	5. Chapter 5

"Destiny"

By EsmeAmelia

AN: Hey all! I'm NOT dead - just busy busy busy.

Chapter 5

A month passed, during which Luke's family saw very little of him. He commed from Yavin 4 often, keeping everyone informed of his experiences as a new Jedi teacher, but visitation wasn't easily accomplished. It was something everyone knew would happen with the Academy's opening, but it was still an adjustment to make.

Particularly for his fiancee.

Rianna was kept busy with her job on the queen's advisory board, but it seemed that a part of her was far away from Naboo. The highlights of her days were when Luke commed her. It was like she was back at the hospital when she would spend each day looking forward to Luke's visits.

"Rianna?" Luke's hologram said one morning. "Honey, I've been thinking."

Rianna's cheeks heated up slightly at Luke calling her "honey." "What have you been thinking, Luke?"

Luke gave that smile that creased his cheeks, charming even when static interfered with it. "Well...I was wondering if your schedule allowed you to come to Coruscant soon. Cause...I'm heading there for a few days to take a small break from teaching." He raised a brow, tilting his head slightly. "If you wanted to, I dunno, buy a wedding dress or something...or make some other wedding plans while we're there..."

Rianna's smile was so wide that it brought a tiny bit of pain to her cheeks. "I'm sure I can arrange something."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

After Rianna got off the com, she found herself glancing down at her desk, catching sight of a holo resting on it. A holo of a young man with dark blonde hair cut short at his ears, holding a small child in his arms. She hadn't given that holo her focus in months, though she used to do so nearly every day.

Lieutenant Gerado Trenn...but she only ever called him _Father._ Lost his life stationed on the Death Star - which was destroyed by the man she was now going to marry. Why could she think of it so lightly now? Two years ago, the anger at her father's death was what drove her life, and yet now, not only had she forgiven the man who caused it...but she had fallen in love with him.

It was a strange sort of irony, she knew that, and yet she felt no shame for it when looking at her father's face. He and Luke never met. Would never meet. If she happened to imagine them meeting in another world with no war, she saw her father approving of him as a suitable husband for his daughter. That was enough now.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Rianna knocked on the door of the Solos' apartment, the place where she was supposed to be meeting Luke. Although she predicted that her future husband to be wouldn't be here yet, it was still a bit of a disappointment when Han answered the door, Jacen clinging to his leg.

"Oh, it's you," he said.

"R'an-na!" Jacen exclaimed, reaching his hands up to the former queen and grinning widely, his smile a vague reflection of his father's. She giggled slightly at his struggling to pronounce her name before turning her attention back to Han.

"So, is Luke here?" she asked.

"Nope," said Han. "You wanna come join the bunch who's waitin' for him?"

"Sure."

- - - - - -- - - - - - -- -

By the time they reached the living room, Jacen was gripping on Rianna's leg instead of Han's, and once they greeted Padme and Leia, on the sofa and Jaina playing on the floor, the ex queen had her soon-to-be niece gripping on her other leg.

"Auntie R'anna!" Jaina squealed, pressing her cheek against Rianna's leg while Rianna raised an eyebrow at Leia

Leia shrugged, giving a mischievous grin. "Hey, I thought I'd give the kids a headstart on what they'll soon be calling you."

Padme giggled heartily. "Auntie Rianna, it has a nice ring."

Rianna sighed, stroking the twins' heads. "When's Luke supposed to be here?"

"Any minute now," said Padme, tossing her hair behind her shoulder.

As if her words had summoned him, just then was another knock on the door, perking up Rianna's Force senses to the knocker's identity. "I'll get it," she said quickly, prying the twins' hands off her legs before dashing for the door.

"Luke!" she exclaimed almost before the door slid open, after which her groom-to-be grabbed her cheeks and pulled her into a kiss that carrying the intensity of years apart instead of just a month.

"So, what are our plans?" Luke asked once their lips separated. "Are we going to the bridal store?"

Rianna snickered through her nose. "Maybe we should say hi to the others first?"

Luke grinned back at her. "Probably."

- - - - - - - - - - - -- - - -

When Luke asked who wanted to go with him and Rianna to the bridal store, Leia and Padme eagerly agreed, while Han said he would stay behind, claiming it was because someone needed to watch the kids, but all really knew that he wanted to avoid visiting a bridal store at all costs. Once they arrived, the three women immediately began perusing the different dress styles while Luke's eyes wandered towards the holovision on the wall, showing a news program of some sorts.

"Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker is returning to Coruscant for the first time since opening his Jedi Academy," the left head of the two-headed newscaster said.

_How did they know that? _Luke thought, wondering if his communication with Rianna had been intercepted.

"To see his new bride, perhaps?" asked the newscaster's right head.

"That's what everyone suspects," the left head answered, flashing a wide grin.

The right head twisted his mouth as if stifling a laugh. "Well who's teaching the students while he's gone?"

"Guess they're getting a short break," said the left head. "Let's just hope he remembers to come back."

Both heads giggled loudly. "Skywalker is certainly a brave one," the left head continued when he caught his breath. "Most people wouldn't come within a parsec of someone who almost became a Sith, yet alone marry her."

"Very true, very true," said the right head. "But then again, it's something to be expected of him. Don't forget who his father was."

"Yes," said the left head, nodding enthusiastically. "It's in his blood to be attracted to morally ambiguous types."

"And in his blood to be overly tolerant," added the right head.

"And to be dangerously fascinated with evil."

"And to be reckless with marriage decisions."

Luke abruptly turned away from the broadcast, his ears buzzing with their words, his hands clutching into fists, thankful that his mother and fiancee were too busy looking at dresses to pay any attention to what they were saying. His body walked away from the newscaster and towards his family, but his mind remained with the news, the heads' voices staying in him, stimulating angry urges despite his rational mind's best efforts to turn them away.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Rianna felt that she must have tried on twenty different dresses in all sorts of colors before she found this one. She had seen it on the rack shortly after entering the store, but it seemed that she needed to look at all those other dresses before she could appreciate this one.

She walked out of the fitting room with long, dignified strides, unconsciously preparing for her walk down the aisle. Her arms were spread out, her hands cupping above her hips as strode towards the large mirror, barely hearing the long breaths of approval from her future mother- and sister-in-law. When the reached the mirror, all she could see was the dress.

It was a pale shade of lavender, with dark purple trim around the bodice and waist, accenting the fabric with tiny flowers. The skirt swayed from side to side with the slightest movement of her legs, as if it were a silent wedding bell. The veil highlighted her black hair with lavender lace, going down to beneath her waist.

Suddenly she knew _this _was the one. The dress she would be getting married in. Getting married in. The notion seemed to fill her up for the first time that this was something actually happening. _She was getting married._

She barely noticed when Luke's reflection appeared next to hers, didn't completely comprehend it until he gently grasped her shoulders and kissed her cheek.

"You look beautiful," he said.

It seemed a glorious moment of time stopping passed with them just looking at the dress before Leia's voice disturbed the trance.

"Rianna, if you're buying that one, you'd better hurry up and pay for it," she said in her businesslike voice.

The former queen hesitantly turned away from her reflection. "Why?"

"Mon Mothma just commed me," Leia said rapidly. "She wants us all to meet her at the Senate building right away. Said something about an urgent mission."


	6. Chapter 6

"Destiny"

By EsmeAmelia

AN: Thanks for reviewing!

Chapter 6

"Senator Organa Solo!" Mon Mothma exclaimed, leaping out of her seat when she saw Leia, Padme, Luke, and Rianna entering her office. "So glad you could come on such short notice."

"What's this all about?" Leia asked as Mon shook her hand.

"Rianna!" a voice exclaimed before the chancellor could answer. The group had barely enough time to comprehend that someone else was in the room when a young woman with brown curly hair and a bright smile on her face came dashing up to the former queen.

Pooja immediately threw her arms around Rianna. "Mmm, we need to see each other more. So how are the preparations for your big day coming along?"

"Well...I've got a dress," Rianna said as she hugged her former advisor.

"And that's a start," said Pooja, pulling out of the embrace. "We're going to be cousins soon - can you believe it? Has Aunt Padme been filling you with advice yet?"

"Some," said Rianna.

"I remember when my sister got married," Pooja continued. "She was completely _buried_ in responsibility - and she wasn't even into politics like we are."

"Speaking of responsibility," Mon Mothma interrupted with a smile, "don't you remember why they're here, Senator Naberrie?"

"Yes, why _are _we here?" asked Padme.

Mon's smile abruptly faded. "Ambassador Amidala, allow me to apologize in advance - to all of you. I know you're planning a wedding, but sometimes things like this have to be interrupted for the greater good."

No one in the group liked the sound of that. They glanced uneasily at each other before Leia inquired, "What do you mean?"

Mon Mothma sat back down behind her desk. "Take a seat, all of you."

The five guests followed her order, pulling up chairs in a small semicircle around her desk, after which Mon rested her arms on the wood in front of her, her fingers clasped together. "Now, first of all," she said in a steady, serious voice, "just a few minutes ago, we picked up a distress call from a distant planet."

"Which planet?" asked Padme.

Mon pressed a button on her desk, bringing up a miniature holographic map of the galaxy. "Right here," she said, pointing a delicate finger at a planet beyond the Outer Rim. "It's a tiny planet believed to be uninhabited by sentient beings. It rests cradled between its sun and a large asteroid field, so exploration there is difficult. The way I understand it, it's been called many names, but the old Republic's archives once labeled it 'Tanir.'"

"Tanir system?" Leia asked. "I've never heard of it."

"Few people have," said Mon.

Padme's brows raised. "But if it's uninhabited, how did you get a distress call from there?"

"That's exactly what I'm asking myself," said Mon, her fingers seeming to twitch. "But just the distress call isn't what's troubling - it's the identity of the person making it. Here, I'll let you hear it." She pressed a key on her computer, playing the message through all the office's speakers.

After at least ten seconds of static, a woman's voice seemed to fight its way through the scratches. "Help me...come...anyone...my name is Aramita...I was a Jedi...please come...Tanir system...come now...are any other Jedi still living?...please...help me...not much time..." After that, the static once more overcame the recording before it went blank.

There was silence. Silence that seemed to overtake everyone's ability to speak. Rianna swallowing was the only sound to be heard for an undetermined amount of time, and no one could bring their heads to turn to look at her.

Finally, with eyes so wide that red rims appeared at the edges of them, Luke gained the courage to speak. "Jedi..._Jedi?_ But...but Master Yoda told me that I was the last..."

"I know," interrupted the president. "It's possible that he didn't know about this Aramita...but then again, it's also possible that he wasn't counting her."

"Wasn't counting her?" Leia repeated.

Padme's lips were twisted, her hand rubbing her forehead as if she had a headache. "Aramita...Aramita...Aramita..." she muttered. "...I think I remember Anakin talking about her once."

"What?" Luke and Leia exclaimed together, though Rianna appeared to have not yet found her ability to speak. If anyone had more presence of mind, they would have noticed her face turning slightly pale.

"Tell us," Pooja urged.

"Aramita Duran," Padme said. "I think that's what he said her name was...I think I remember him telling me that she had been expelled from the Jedi Order for having a relationship with a man."

"That's exactly what happened," said Mon. "After her expulsion, she vanished, believed to be dead. I don't know if the other Jedi knew what happened to her or not - I don't even know if this voice really is her. That's why I want you to investigate this call."

"Us??" Luke exclaimed. "But Your Honor...can't you send a response first?"

"No," Mon said firmly, her hands clasped on the desk. "It was a one-way transmission."

Luke's breath was hurrying, his head bouncing slightly. "But...why us? We have a wedding to plan - can't you send someone else?"

"Mr. Skywalker, not only is your family the best group of fighters we have, but you are the only known Jedi alive," Mon continued, seeming to scan Luke with her eyes. "You and your sister are trained Jedi Knights, your mother was closely involved with the old Jedi Order, and your fiancee is a strong Force-sensitive who has received a good amount of training. You are the logical choices to send." She nodded towards Leia. "Not to mention that your husband is one of the best pilots we have available - don't forget that you will need to navigate an asteroid field to get to Tanir."

Leia bit her lip, rolling her eyes at the thought of repeating her asteroid flight. "Does he know about this?"

Mon grimaced. "I tried contacting him, but he wasn't answering the com. However, I have contacted Chewbacca, and I've already arranged for his wife to watch your children while you're gone."

"Malla?" Although Chewie's wife was an experienced mother, Leia didn't exactly feel comfortable leaving her children in the care of a Wookiee. "What about her own son?"

"He'll be staying there too," said Mon, reaching across the table and pinching Leia's wrist. "Listen, Senator Organa Solo, I know this is very short notice, but please think about this woman. She could indeed be that former Jedi, or she could be just calling for attention. Or perhaps this call is a trap - in which case it will be much more important for the best fighters in the galaxy to be there." Her eyes widened, as if pleading. "It's a call for help, Senator."

Leia's head slowly moved up and down in the most hesitant of nods. "All right, we'll go."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The group made their way down the hall in near-silence, hardly speaking to each other. They moved through the crowd of politicians as one unit except for Rianna, who still hadn't spoken since their mission was revealed. She drifted further away with each step until she was in front of a window, when she ceased walking altogether.

"Rianna?" Luke asked, dashing up to the window after her. "Rianna sweetheart, I'm sorry. I know this is coming at a bad time, but our wedding can wait..."

"It isn't that..." Rianna said in a low, cold voice, her eyes refusing to meet Luke's. She inhaled, her voice as soft as if it were accidentally saying her private thoughts. "Aramita..."

Her fiance gripped her limp hand, pulling it up to his cheek. "I know...a Jedi from the old Order possibly still living...I can't believe it either."

"It's not that either."

Luke placed his real hand on his fiancee's shoulder. "Then what is it?"

Rianna slowly turned around to face him.

"Aramita was my mother's name."


	7. Chapter 7

"Destiny"

By EsmeAmelia

AN: Happy New Year all!

Chapter 7

Padme and Leia returned to the Solos' apartment expecting to meet with the noise of three bouncy children, but instead meeting with silence. However, the instant they entered the living room, the silence was broken by a small, exciting voice.

"Mommy!" Jaina shouted, hugging her mother's legs the instant she reached them. "Mommy Mommy Mommy!" After jumping a couple of times, shaking her mother's pants, she looked up at Leia and put a tiny finger over her pink pursed lips. "Shhh!" she whispered, putting extra emphasis on each of her words. "Be qwiet, Daddy seepin'."

Leia glanced over at the sofa and grinned at the sight of Han sitting with Jacen's head in his lap, both sound asleep. The pilot's head was nestled against the sofa's back, his mouth emitting deep breaths, his hand resting on Jacen's shoulder. Anakin was in his infant seat on the caf table, fingering one of his toys, as if waiting patiently for his father to wake up. The afternoon sunlight shone through the large windows, illuminating their faces.

"Daddy wan' us to takea nap," Jaina continued. "He takea nap too."

"Well, I think I know why he wasn't answering the com," Padme whispered, grinning slyly at her daughter. "Should we wake him up?"

"In a second," Leia whispered back, tiptoing towards the sofa until she was standing directly above her husband. Her eyes swayed back and forth, directing her stare at Han, then Jacen, then Han, then Jacen again. The part of her that was easily charmed by cute sights wanted to just let them sleep so she could continue watching them, but that was quickly overcome by a desire from her mischievous side.

Her hand shot out and grabbed her husband's shoulder, shaking it. "Good moooorrrrniiiing!" she shouted, hearing her mother and daughter giggling. "Come on sleepyhead, we've got something to tell you."

Han grunted loudly, his sticky eyelids slowly opening. "Huh?"

Before he could completely wake up, Leia grabbed his cheeks and gave his lips a long, sensual kiss. "There, are you awake now?"

Han's lips slowly formed a grin as his eyes gave long, tired blinks. "I hope so, otherwise that was a dream."

Jaina was poking at her still-sleeping brother's hip, apparently thinking that since Han was awake, that meant everyone should be awake. "Jacen? Jacen? Naptime over!"

Leia backed towards the caf table and gently lifted Anakin out of his infant seat, resting his head against her shoulder. "You know, I could be angry at you for falling asleep while watching the kids." She kissed her baby son's head, savoring his fuzzy hair.

Han rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. "C'mon, I would've heard it if Anakin cried."

"Sure, just like during the night when I tell you he's crying and you just snore at me."

Padme quickly stepped up to the couple. "Anyway, Han, we have some...interesting news."

Han yawned. "What, has the wedding been canceled cause you couldn't find a dress?"

"No, Rianna's got a lovely dress," said Padme. "It just looks like the wedding might be postponed for a little while."

All the sleepiness that was in Han's eyes a second ago seemed to vanish instantly. "What's that mean?"

Leia reached down and gently brushed a strand of hair out of her husband's forehead. "Han, would you be interested in piloting for a rather unusual mission?"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Rianna lounged on Luke's sofa in her robe, thankful that her future groom had opted to keep his Coruscant apartment at least until they were married. She preferred this to Leia's crowded apartment or a tiny hotel room. She bent her knees up to her chest, resting her bare feet on the cushions as she gazed out at the nighttime view of the flashing lights and ever-moving traffic, trying to gain some peace of mind from this predictable sight.

Perhaps the lost Jedi wasn't her mother after all. Perhaps that was why she wasn't at all excited about the mission, why she was feeling something close to complete indifference, why she couldn't stimulate herself into feeling more. Did Luke and Leia feel this same way when they discovered their mother? Did she have the courage to ask?

Her mother was dead. That was what her father had told her all those years...right? So why, when she was actually thinking about it, was she unable to find a specific memory of being told her mother was dead?

Luke strode past the sofa, also in his robe, smiling at his fiancee. "Hey..." He swallowed. "...are you sure you want to sleep on the sofa? Cause I've got room in my bed."

"I'll be fine here," Rianna said in an uninterested tone, still looking past him at the view outside.

Luke gently sat down next to her, placing his hands on her knees. "Why are you suddenly afraid of us sleeping together?"

"I'm not," his fiancee said in that same tone. "I just want to be alone tonight."

Luke rested his left elbow on her knee so he could stroke her ear. "Honey...I know how you feel. After Leia unfroze our mother, I felt like my entire world had disappeared before my eyes. Nothing made sense for a while."

"But you got over that, didn't you?" Rianna said bitterly, not responding to his touch. "Anyway, Padme was frozen - it's not like she had a choice on whether or not to see you."

Luke sighed. "Well, maybe Aramita didn't either. Maybe she's been stranded on that planet for a long time."

"And maybe she's not my mother," Rianna said sharply. "All we have is a name - who's to say this isn't a different Aramita?" She gazed down at Luke's hand on her knee, trying to concentrate on his short fingernails. "All I know is that I didn't inherit the Force from my father."

"The Force wasn't always inherited," Luke reminded her.

"I know," said Rianna. "So maybe I didn't inherit it from Aramita or anyone else." She finally looked into her fiance's eyes. "And who knows what she'll say about you? After all, you killed her husband."

Luke sucked in a breath, his eyes widening, his face cringing, immediately filling the former queen with guilt. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry," she said quickly.

"It's all right," Luke said softly, lowering his eyes. "It's the truth, after all." He hesitantly gazed back up at her. "Rianna..."

"I know," Rianna interrupted, grabbing his cheeks and kissing his forehead. "You know I know, honey. The incident...it's just stayed with me, that's all. You understand that, right?"

"Of course," said Luke, leaning over to kiss her lips.

Rianna closed her eyes, savoring his taste. A sense of complete understanding seemed to pass between them, a confirmation that they could both move on from the past. The past was a part of her that could never be removed, but she was able to accept that and welcome her future.

After Luke pulled out of the kiss, he gave his fiancee a cheeky grin. "Rianna, you know what you'll need for this mission?"

"What?"

"A lightsaber."


	8. Chapter 8

"Destiny"

By EsmeAmelia

AN: Thanks as always for the reviews!

Chapter 8

"This is ridiculous," Han said under his breath as he lay in bed next to Leia, encased in darkness.

"What's so ridiculous about it?" Leia asked, pulling the blanket up around her neck, letting Han feel the pull enough to get the message about how much closeness she wanted.

Han rolled over to face his wife, able to see little more than an outline of her. "It's a call for attention, that's all it is. Some sap wantin' to grab her little moment of fame by claimin' she was a Jedi. You'd think the President of the New Republic could see through that."

"Maybe you're right, but the point is that we don't know for sure what it is," Leia said in her calm-but-firm tone meant to discourage rebuttal, rubbing his cheek with her soft, oily hand. "That's why they're sending us to investigate it." She dug a finger into his loose skin. "Besides, even you have to admit it's strange that a distress call turned up from an uninhabited, isolated planet."

"Yeah, well how do ya know she's really there? Maybe she made that up to."

"Mon Mothma traced the coordinates from that transmission and they match the Tanir system," Leia explained, tapping his eyebrow. "At least she's not lying about that part."

Han sighed, closing his eyes, focusing on her touch. "Still, you gotta admit this is pretty damn weird."

Leia pushed her body closer to his until he could feel her hot breath on his face. "We all admit that, but when you're in our line of work, you need to learn how to accept the weird."

- - - - - - - - - - - -

"Nana!"

Padme groaned softly, yawning as her eyes stretched open, blinking her granddaughter and grandson into focus as best they could in the darkness.

"Jaina? Jacen?" she asked in a sleepy voice.

Jacen began throwing his body against the mattress. "I wanna...wanna...wanna seep wit' you."

"I wanna too!" Jaina shouted.

Thought Padme couldn't very well see their faces, she was pretty sure the twins were showing their cheeky grins, the ones that made it nearly impossible to refuse their requests. Even imagining those grins was enough to succumb to their desires. "All right guys, come on in."

Jaina jumped onto the mattress while Jacen climbed up it like a mountain. As Jacen slid over his grandmother's body and Jaina shook up the mattress when she flopped down, Padme was thankful that Leia and Han's guest bed was big enough for the three of them.

"So why didn't you go to Mommy and Daddy?" Padme said after the children wriggled under the covers, one on each side of her.

"Dey seepin'," Jaina said, as if Padme hadn't just been sleeping too.

"Yeah," added Jacen. "Ani gonna cwy an' wake 'em up."

Padme snickered through her nose as she rolled onto her back. "I see."

Jaina's little hand grabbed a pinch of her grandmother's nightgown. "Nana, I wanna stowy."

"Me too," said Jacen. "You stowy!"

Padme smiled, wrapping an arm around each of her grandchildren, letting them rest their heads on her shoulders. "Oh come on, you guys have heard my story a million times."

"I wanna hear it again!" Jaina shouted, probably loud enough to wake up her parents and baby brother.

With a sigh and a slight shaking of her head, the grandmother gently pressed the little girl's cheek. "All right, all right, my story. But you have to promise you'll go to sleep afterward."

"Okay," the twins whispered in unison, snuggling up to her.

Padme began stroking their shoulders, encouraging them to fall asleep before she was finished telling them about her life. "When Mommy and Uncle Luke were still babies inside my belly, your grandfather got scared that something bad was going to happen when the babies were born."

"He turn bad," Jacen said knowingly.

Padme sighed, part of her wondering why she found it pleasant to simplify her story for two-year-olds' enjoyment. "Yes, he turned to the dark side. Sometimes people do bad things when they're scared, but that doesn't mean they can't become good again."

"Like Gra'pa," said Jacen.

"Yes," said Padme. "Anyway, your grandfather was so scared that he hurt me very badly, and I had to go to the hospital, where Mommy and Uncle Luke came out of my body and were born. And to save me, the great Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi..."

"He fwoze you," Jaina interrupted. "Like Daddy."

"Yes, like Daddy." Padme ran her fingers through her granddaughter's wispy hair. "Obi-Wan froze me, and I went to sleep for a very long time. I didn't wake up until Mommy was all grown up, and she found me and unfroze me."

"An' you cwy," said Jacen. Even in the dark Padme could see the concern in her grandson's face.

"Yes, I cried," she continued. "I cried because I didn't get to see Mommy and Uncle Luke when they were kids. They didn't have their mommy and daddy like you do. When they were kids, they didn't even know who we were..."

She had told her grandchildren this story countless times. They loved it more than any children's book they owned, possibly even more than the story of their parents and uncle fighting against the Empire, though Padme wasn't offered the pleasure of seeing them when they were alone with their parents and they acted out the story together. Such intimate times were reserved for the children and parents and the children and parents alone. Even a grandmother would spoil those moments.

Was it wrong for her to _want_ to believe the children loved her story more?

As her voice brought the tale to life, Jaina and Jacen lay spellbound, though Padme was never sure how much they actually understood. Could they really comprehend how the dark side took people and altered them? Did they think of their grandfather as a bad person or a good person? Did they understand the devastation of losing so many years? What about Aunt Rianna? Did they really know what _she_ went through?

Their eyes were still open when Padme finished the story, reflecting the tiny lights from outside. "I wan' more!" Jaina exclaimed, even though Padme always ended the story with their birth, telling them that they already knew the rest of it.

Padme cradled the girl's head. "Now come on, you said you'd go to sleep after the story."

"Noooo!" Jacen cried with pretend devastation. "I don' wanna seep!"

Padme tickled her grandson's cheek and kissed his forehead. "Well if you don't go to sleep tonight, you'll be all tired tomorrow. Mommy and Daddy will be sad if you're too tired to say goodbye to them."

"Oooookaaaaay," Jaina said with cute disgust.

Padme smiled as she wrapped her arms as tightly around her grandchildren as was possible, letting them use her chest as a pillow. In a few minutes her arms began to tingle from holding still for so long, but she hardly noticed. The comfort in her arms was a happy sacrifice for her two little joys. She was glad to be wide awake now, able to savor the little ones.

Though she tried not to, though she knew it wasn't exactly right, her mind sometimes called them Luke and Leia.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

She lay in bed, waiting. It was long past her bedtime, but her light remained on. She wasn't going to let her father talk her into going to sleep before she had gotten both her good night wishes. He would listen - she knew him well enough to know that.

Finally her mother arrived. Her black hair brushed around her neck in thick, soft curls; her small pink lips stretched a smile into her slender face. "Still awake?" her deep voice chided.

The child only giggled as the woman sat down on her bed, brushing her rough hand through her daughter's hair. Yet even through her laughs, the little girl thought she saw something sad in her mother's face.

"Sweetheart..." she said, cupping her child's face in her large hands, her accent highlighting words and syllables the way the girl loved it, "...you're a very brave girl, you know that?"

"Yeah?" the girl responded. Brave. She liked that word.

The mother's voice trembled slightly as her bumpy callouses ran down her daughter's cheeks. "Honey...you're brave. Remember that. You can be brave even when the people you love are gone. You're a special girl. _Special._" She wrapped her arms around the little one, pressing her against her big chest. "You have powers you can't even imagine right now."

After rocking her daughter back and forth, letting her relax in the safety of her mother's arms, the woman's lips made their way to the child's ear, whispering a final comfort.

"The Force is strong with you."

Rianna opened her eyes back in the real world, back in the present, back on Luke's sofa. The first rays of dawn were peeking their way through the large windows, irritating her eyes and making them want to close again, to chase that dream and capture it before it vanished from her memory. Her mother...saying something sad...something about the Force...that was all she could remember.

She pressed her hands against the sofa cushions and stretched herself into a sitting position, the dream nagging at her mind. Could that have been a real memory, or was she just thinking too much about the name Aramita? Her hand rubbed against her right eye. _Did_ she remember her mother, who supposedly died when she was merely two years old? She'd seen so many holos and heard her father talk so much that sometimes she _felt_ like she remembered her, but everything there was hazy. She was never sure if the face she recognized was from actual memories or just from the holos of her.

Yet Leia had told her that she used to have dreams about Padme. Did that mean that Force-sensitives carried their long ago memories with them? Did she too carry some of Aramita in her subconscious? If that was so, why couldn't she remember ever dreaming about her before?

She shook her head, breathing in the air of reality. There was only a name, nothing more. It was very likely a coincidence. She couldn't do anything about it until they reached Tanir, so there was no point in meddling with it.

Was there?


	9. Chapter 9

"Destiny"

By EsmeAmelia

AN: Let me apologize yet again for my lack of updates. I got really sick and then school started, you know how that is. Anyway, thanks to all the reviewers as usual. :)

Chapter 9

"Bye Mommy," Jacen said as his mother embraced him while on her knees. "Byebyebyebyebyebyebye!"

"Byebyebyebyebyebye!" Jaina repeated in Han's arms as he rubbed noses with her, making her giggle.

"Now you two be good while we're gone," said Leia. "Listen to Malla, do what she says." She smiled over at Malla, standing on the edge of the Millennium Falcon's landing platform, growling her assurances that the children would be fine and cradling Anakin in one of her furry arms while using the other one to wave goodbye to Chewie.

"Byebyebyebye!" Jaina said again.

"Byebyebyebye," Han echoed back to her in his low voice, stimulating muffled giggles from every other adult present, though he took no notice of them.

"R2, I do believe that having children has made Master Han quite a bit out of sorts," C-3PO said, to which R2-D2 only beeped in an uppity manner.

Padme leaned against the Falcon's wall as she watched Han and Jaina exchange their goodbyes in rapid succession, having already said her own goodbyes to the twins, which had seemed much briefer than these long goodbyes they were sharing with their parents. She was smiling at her little grandchildren when suddenly a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side.

"Padme!" Rianna's voice hissed through her teeth.

"Rianna, what is it?"

"I want to talk to you," Rianna said in a hurried voice. "Inside, before everyone else gets on."

Padme's mind didn't even have time to formulate a response before Rianna pulled her up the ramp and into the Falcon.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Rianna, what's wrong?" Padme asked once she was seated at the game table across from her future daughter-in-law.

Rianna exhaled, thumping her palm on the table, her tan face seeming a shade lighter than it usually was, her chapped lips scrunching, as if about to reveal an embarrassing secret. "I think...I think this person we're looking for _is_ my mother."

Padme twitched her lips, tilting her head, trying to figure out how to respond to that. "Rianna...honey, just because she has the same first name as your mother doesn't mean..."

"Don't give me that," Rianna interrupted. "I've heard it already. I agree with you there, all right? I'm just...getting..._feelings._" She gave a frustrated sigh. "It's hard to explain to someone who's not Force-sensitive."

Padme clasped her fingers together, resting them on the table. "I know about those feelings. I also know how dangerous it can be if you rush into acting on them."

The younger woman smirked. "You sound like a Jedi."

"Well, my husband was a Jedi and my children are Jedi - maybe some of that rubbed off on me."

"More than some, I would say," Rianna muttered in a tone that made Padme unsure whether or not she was supposed to hear it. After a moment of seeming particularly fascinated with her fingers, the young advisor looked back up at her. "I'm not feeling the way I'm supposed to feel, Padme. I'm not happy, not excited, not even curious. I'm just...empty, I guess."

Padme licked her lips. "I think Leia and Luke felt the same way when they met me..."

"No, they didn't," Rianna said harshly. "Not like _this_, they didn't."

"How do you know? You weren't there." Padme's brown eyes stared directly at Rianna's green ones. "I know to you we probably seem like this big happy family, but those first few days after I was unfrozen...they were very _very_ difficult. For all of us."

Rianna once more took an interest in her fingers. "All right - I wasn't there...maybe it was exactly like this, I don't know. That doesn't really change anything, does it?"

Padme was silent, her mind wandering, searching for something appropriate to say. Her fingers ran over the holochess board, as if somewhere in the pattern of black and white she could decipher an answer.

"I know you don't have any answers," Rianna continued. "I'm not asking for answers - I just wanted someone to listen." She drummed her fingers on the table, her nails scratching the board with every moment they came in contact. "And Luke...he's not exactly helping."

"What??"

Rianna gulped. "Lately he's been..._approaching _me, let's say."

Padme's eyes widened. "Are you telling me that you've been in this relationship for two years without ever doing it? I would have thought you two wouldn't be able to wait..."

"Oh we've done it," Rianna interrupted, hooking her fingers. "Only a few times, though...always carefully timed...I mean...I've told him I'm not ready to have children and he's always understood that, but now that we're engaged he seems to think..."

Padme swallowed, raising a brow at her future daughter-in-law, trying to hide her discomfort with this subject.

"No, he's never forceful," Rianna continued. "I don't want to give the impression that your son is a scumball - if he were I would have broken our engagement long ago. He's been...let's say, gentle but persistent."

"Would this happen to have anything to do with your hesitance to bring Force-sensitive children into the world?" Padme managed to ask.

Rianna lowered her eyes, her fingertips brushing the table's surface as if testing its hardness. "It might..." was all she said.

The ambassador twisted her lips. "Have you tried talking to Luke about that?"

Rianna looked back up. "You honestly expect me to tell him I never want to have children before we're even married?"

"Twenty is an awfully young age to decide you never want children," Padme offered. "Besides, I highly doubt you want everything to be perfectly timed for your entire marriage. It might, you know, just _happen_, as it did with me." She reached across the table and gently brushed her future daughter-in-law's shoulder. "Don't worry about that right now. Concentrate on our mission."

Rianna smiled awkwardly "You say that as if concentrating on the mission is any easier."

Before Padme could respond, Luke strode into the room, a wide grin on his face, his hands hidden behind his back. "Rianna," he announced loudly, "guess what I have for you?" He only gave her a second before he pulled a shiny silver tube out from behind his back and handed it to his fiancee.

"Your very own lightsaber," he said proudly.


	10. Chapter 10

"Destiny"

By EsmeAmelia

AN: Thanks as always to the reviewers!

Chapter 10

Leia sat on the edge of the bunk she was sharing with Han, wearing only her robe, grinning mischievously as she watched her husband slowly, seductively remove his shirt, gradually revealing his large, hairy chest to her.

"Nothin' like hyperspace to get you in the mood, huh?" Han said from under the shirt, pulling his right arm out from the white fabric.

Leia smirked. "Nothing like hyperspace, nothing like a good drink, nothing like a busy day working on this dumb ship - is there anything that _doesn't _get you in the mood?"

Han yanked the shirt off, revealing his widely grinning face. "Hey, I'm male, what'd you expect?" He winked.

Rather than give her husband the sarcastic comment that he was probably expecting, Leia rose to her feet, letting her robe fall over her shoulders, teasing him with her hint of bare skin, making his grin widen even further until his cheeks wrinkled.

"You really know how to turn a guy on, don't'cha?" he purred.

"I thought it was hyperspace that did that." Leia swung her hips in the slightest of manners, not in a dancing fashion but merely to remind him of the rest of her body.

Han immediately took the bait, grabbing her bare shoulders and kissing the nape of her neck, the sole of his bare foot gently brushing the top of hers before his toes found their way into the gaps between hers. Within a moment, she was squeezing his neck and he was slowly peeling off her robe.

They might have planned to discuss the mission in the privacy of their cabin, but the intoxicating presence of each other silenced any discussion.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Rianna sat up in bed, staring ahead into the darkness, her hands vaguely playing with the deactivated lightsaber she'd been given, sliding up and down the tube as if trying to give it warmth. Her fiance slept soundly beside her, his breath being the only thing that pierced the silence. The rather cramped bunk meant nearly all of his body was pressed against hers, a fact she was striving to ignore, though her nerves remained all too aware. Her breath became heavier against her will, despite her mind telling herself to stay calm.

She turned the tube over in the same detached manner that she had been handling it all day. It hadn't been activated since this morning, when Luke had shown her what color it was. Deep purple. The color of royalty, of dignity...of _passion._

Her engagement ring scraped against the metal, the sound jolting her attention to the small gold band with the clear stone that was barely visible in the dark. The fingers of the other hand began stroking it as tenderly as a pet, circling around the stone as if it was a god to be worshiped.

Her mind felt uncertain what it was thinking, unable to express anything about the moment and yet feeling so much. Without any reason or decision, she released her consciousness into the Force, searching the rest of the Falcon with only a tiny part of her still looking at the ring.

Padme was sleeping. Chewie was sleeping. The droids were shut down. Finding little of interest anywhere else, the Force carried Rianna's senses to the cabin Leia and Han shared, once again for seemingly no reason, acting only on a small indication that there might be something there.

They too were sleeping, the covers twisted around their bodies, their arms wrapped around each other. Leia sighed softly, digging her head further into her husband's bare chest as he grunted and squeezed her body tighter.

Both were nude...

Rianna's consciousness snapped back into the sanctuary of her own cabin, her eyes blinking as if trying to shake away a nightmare, her body trembling, the lightsaber handle banging against her knee. Why had she done that?? Had she purposely meant to spy on them? Her breath grew as rapid as if she were gasping for air; she began climbing out of bed as quickly as if she would contract a deadly disease if she remained. Without any thought that she might be waking up Luke, she fled from the room.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

"Padme...Padme...PADME!"

The desperate whisper and the hand gripping her shoulder yanked Padme out of sleep. She forced her eyes open to nearly complete darkness and a silhouette hovering over her.

"Rianna?" she mumbled between tired grunts. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Before the mother was even completely awake, Rianna collapsed on top of Padme's body and threw her arms around her neck. "Padme..." she murmured, digging her face into her future mother-in-law's chest.

Padme instinctively wrapped her arms around the younger woman's body and gently patted her back. "Rianna, what happened?"

"I don't know," Rianna gasped out. "I just...just let the Force take me around the ship for some reason...and I saw...I saw Leia and Han...in the aftermath of something I wasn't supposed to see..." She stretched her neck to look up at the ambassador. "I didn't know who else to go to..."

Padme's teeth gripped the upper edge of her lip before she gained the courage to speak, and even then she could only say the first thing that entered her mind. "I...I see why you wouldn't want to go to Luke about this...but I don't know how to..."

"Don't," Rianna interrupted. "Don't...don't...don't..."

"Don't what?"

Rianna gripped the edges of Padme's pillow. "Don't tell me your uncertainties...please...I just need you right now."

"Need me?" Before she could say anything more, something smooth, hard and cylindrical pressed against her cheek, causing her to jump and her hand to shoot up and grip whatever the object was.

"It's about this, isn't it?" she asked softly.

"What?"

Hesitating before every move, Padme ever-so-gently pried Rianna's body off of hers, keeping her right hand wrapped around Rianna's hand gripping the lightsaber. "This is what's disturbing you, isn't it?"

Rianna sniffed loudly. "So much is happening at once...this mission...my wedding...Luke...the Jedi..."

"I know...I know..." Padme whispered, patting her future daughter-in-law's back.

Rianna breathed heavily before every word, her body once more sinking down on top of Padme's. "Why is this...almost every time I try seeing through the Force I end up seeing something I don't want to see..."

"I'm not the one to answer that question." Padme's fingers began prying apart a tangle in the younger woman's hair.

"I don't expect an answer..." Rianna was quiet for a moment or two, so quiet that Padme wondered if she had fallen asleep before she spoke up again.

"I've never had a mother..." she mumbled. "I never _wanted_ a mother. I mean...I know it sounds cruel...but when I was growing up I never felt like I was lacking anything. My father was all I needed."

Padme let out a long sigh. "I understand."

They lay in silence for a few more moments, Padme beginning to sweat from the heat of Rianna's body in addition to her covers.

"If I ever _did_ think about my mother..." Rianna mumbled, "...I'd hope she was like you..."

The older woman found that she couldn't stop herself from sucking in her breath. Her heart quickened its pace as if recovering from a shock. "Like...like me?"

"Yes." Rianna rolled off of Padme's body until she was nestled next to her. "You're the one who understands me best."

"_I'm_ not Force-sensitive," Padme said uneasily. "There's a lot about you that I _can't_ understand."

"Forget the Force." Rianna gripped her future mother-in-law's shoulder. "There's something else you _do_ understand...something no one else can." Her hand slid down Padme's arm. "You know my burden. To wear those crowns, to paint your face like that, to feel the pressure of an entire planet looking up to you when inside you still feel like a child." She swallowed loudly, as if her throat was dry and desperate to get some liquid down. "You understand what it's like to put on that mask every single day, that mask that makes you look like a symbol of hope to your people when in reality you don't know what the hell you're doing..." She shifted her weight, twisting Padme's blankets so much that her legs began to hurt from the tight pull. "Whoever my real mother is, she can't understand _that_ the way you can."

Padme was silent, staring upward for an uncertain amount of time. So...Rianna considered Padme her mother...why was she feeling discomfort? She had long thought of Han as her son - why was this any different? Was it because Rianna seemed to be rejecting her real mother before even meeting her?

Yet there was still no proof that this woman who sent the distress call was indeed her mother. Padme wanted to convince herself that Rianna only _thought_ she felt signs through the Force...but why? Why wouldn't she want Rianna to find her mother alive?

A small mumble let Padme know that Rianna had fallen asleep, using Padme's shoulder as a pillow. Her steady breath carried out its hypnotic effect on her future mother-in-law, making her drowsy, yet she still resisted with what little consciousness she retained, wanting to think more about this, though that little bit of conscious soon faded away itself.

- - - - - - - - -

Padme awoke a few hours later, her side aching, the glowing chronometer on the wall telling her that the entire ship would be arousing soon. The arm that wasn't trapped under Rianna's body stretched above her and then reached over to gently shake the young advisor.

"Rianna," she whispered. "Rianna, wake up."

"Huh?" Rianna's voice muttered in the darkness.

Padme turned her head to the side so she could whisper directly in Rianna's ear. "I just think you might want to get back in bed with your fiance before everyone wakes up."

"What...oh, right." Rianna's voice sounded like it was struggling to wake up. Her body gradually pushed itself up, finally releasing Padme's tingling shoulder. "Yes...I do."

Padme found herself smiling as Rianna got up from the bed, making sure she had her lightsaber with her. "Do you feel better now?"

Even in this dim light, Padme was sure she saw Rianna smiling back. "Yes..." she said softly. "Yes I do. Thank you."


	11. Chapter 11

"Destiny"

By EsmeAmelia

AN: Yes, I owe you the usual apologies for not updating. College work gets hectic, especially when you're graduating. :D Anyway, thanks to the reviewers.

Chapter 11

The whisper of footsteps nudged Luke out of sleep. His eyes opened only the slightest bit, seeing nothing beyond a human silhouette growing larger as it walked up to the bunk. Evidently the figure thought he was asleep, since it climbed into bed next to him slowly and carefully.

His eyes closed again as he felt Rianna's warm breath on his face and her calloused hand on his cheek. He breathed steadily, hoping she wouldn't discover he was awake. Where had she been, anyway?

Rianna's lips slowly brushed her fiance's forehead. Luke thought he might reveal that he was awake, but quickly decided against it, wishing to know what she would do next. He felt her moist lips against his forehead a second time, then a third...Luke had to restrain himself from smiling. He wanted her kisses to just linger on, but instead of a forth kiss he felt her breath tingling in his ear.

"You're lucky to have such a wonderful mother, Luke."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Ya know kid, there's something very important we gotta discuss, man to man."

"What is it, Han?" Luke asked, moving his holochess piece to capture Han's.

Han flashed his mischievous grin at his brother-in-law. "Your bachelor party."

Luke's hand involuntary fumbled, nearly sliding off the lever, barely able to complete his capture. "What?? Han...I wasn't exactly planning on a bachelor party."

"Oh c'mon, you had fun at mine, didn't ya?" Han proceeded to capture Luke's piece that had just captured his. "Admit it."

Luke ground his teeth. "Why are you so interested in _my_ bachelor party? You're _married._"

"So?" Han propped a foot up on the edge of the holochessboard. "Since when does that mean you can't come to a bachelor party? So long as nothing...you know, _happens_, it's none of Leia's business."

"You say that as if I'm not within hearing range, _honey_," Leia cut in from the other end of the lounge, where she had been conversing with the other two women.

"Isn't the bride supposed to not know about your bachelor party, Luke?" Rianna inquired playfully, a hand on her hip. "Aren't you worried it would _anger_ me?"

Luke flashed a guilty smile at his fiancee. "Hey honey, I've seen you angry - trust me, I _don't _want it to happen again."

Rianna shot up from her seat and began sauntering up to the game table. With her green shirt, black pants, and free-falling, slightly tangled hair, her demeanor was far from the regal queen Luke first knew her as, the thought of which made his grin expand. She had been livelier these past few days, more like her old self than she had been before the trip. Whatever Padme had said to her that first night, it seemed to have worked.

"Then maybe you'd better talk to your brother-in-law about a little thing called tact," his fiancee continued, running her fingers through his hair and kissing his lips. "Otherwise I may have second thoughts about marrying into this family."

"Don't worry about that," said Leia. "He gave me second thoughts many a time too."

Chewie guffawed loudly, making Han roll his eyes, but before he could give one of his wisecracks, the ship's alarm sounded.

"Looks like we're here," he said. Before heading to the cockpit, he pointed a finger at Luke. "We'll talk about the bachelor party later."

- - - - - - - - -

"All right, strap yourselves in, this is gonna be turbulent," Han said as he brought the ship out of hyperspace.

"Don't remind me," said Leia. "I just hope this will turn out better than _last_ time." She and Padme were in the backseats of the cockpit behind Han and Chewie, while the others had decided they would be better off sitting in the lounge.

"Hey, I got us out alive, didn't I?" Han protested.

"After you almost got us eaten by a space slug," Leia retorted.

Chewie roared an agreement that Han's maneuvering last time hadn't been very smart.

"Whatever," said Han, veering the ship sharply to the side, which did a good job in discouraging conversation.

This asteroid field was _slightly_ easier to navigate than the last one. Or maybe it just seemed that way because this time there were no Imperials chasing them. Either way, the asteroids appeared to be allowing them plenty of space to get through, though sometimes flying between two asteroids in order to get to that space was pretty tricky. Han did his best to ignore the constant shaking, the frequent shouts of "Watch it!" from the people in the backseats and even way back in the lounge, and the occasional churning in his stomach. He wasn't usually prone to motion sickness, but occasionally during a really rough flight, his innards would try to remind him that they were delicate.

Not that he ever actually listened to his innards.

"Yes Chewie, I _know_ we almost hit that one!" he shouted at his copilot. "But look, the important thing is that we _didn't._"

"Well we're about to hit _that_ one if you don't pull up!" Padme yelled.

Han snapped his head back to look at his mother-in-law. "Who's drivin' here, you or me??"

A large asteroid skidding along the Falcon's side and bottom made Han realize that maybe it _wasn't_ such a good idea to look away when he was driving.

"Shit," he muttered. "Let's hope we don't need the deflector shield - that rock took it out."

"WHAT??" Leia and Padme exclaimed in unison. Han suspected Luke and Rianna were shouting the same thing in the lounge.

The pilot tapped the dashboard. "No biggie - we're almost outta this asteroid field and we can fix it when we land."

This is reminding me more and more of last time, Chewie growled.

Han bit his lip - he couldn't afford to take his eyes off the window now. The planet was in sight...in sight...in sight...just had to slip between these two huge asteroids and they'd be clear. If only 3PO's loud wailing didn't carry so well into the cockpit. His teeth ground together as he violently swerved the Falcon sideways, ignoring the protests from the passengers.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

"There!" he exclaimed in triumph once they entered the planet's atmosphere. "See? I told you guys there'd be no problems."

"Losing the deflector shield isn't a problem?" muttered Leia.

"Nothin' that can't be fixed," Han retorted.

Nearly before he was finished speaking, the Falcon's emergency alarm went off, followed by the lights going out and the ship dramatically swooping downward. No, not swooping..._falling._

"What's going on??" Padme yelled.

Han frantically fiddled with the controls, but nothing was slowing this sharp drop that made him feel like he had left his stomach in the asteroid field and his brain wanted to join it there. "We've lost power! Chewie, activate the emergency backup power! QUICK!"

Chewie tried to do so, but Han still found the controls useless.

"CHEWIE, ACTIVATE THE EMERGENCY BACKUP POWER!" Han repeated in a panicked tone, as if yelling would magically make the emergency power work.

It's not working! Chewie roared.

"I KNOW!" Han snapped, rapidly throwing off his safety restraint.

"What are you doing??" Leia exclaimed.

"Tryin' to fix the power." The pilot ignored the cries of "ARE YOU CRAZY??" from his comrades - he wasn't about to go down without a fight, even if it seemed like they were all going down anyway.

He only managed a few wobbly steps before the floor slid out from under him, throwing him down...or up...he couldn't really tell. All he knew was that his body skidded against the floor and his head smashed against something hard.

The last thing anyone in the Falcon was aware of was a violent crash.


	12. Chapter 12

"Destiny"

By EsmeAmelia

AN: As I always say, thanks to all the readers and reviewers!

Chapter 12

When Han gained the first inklings of awareness, he wanted to get rid of them. Awareness let him know that he had a pounding headache and was lying somewhere that felt and smelled strange. It was a bed of some sort, but the blanket he was under was rough and itchy and it gave off a sickly odor. He wanted to sink back into unconsciousness and make everything disappear for a little while longer.

"Finally awake?" an unfamiliar female voice crooned, disturbing Han's darkness. His crusty eyelids slowly, reluctantly began peeling open, bringing unwelcome, painful light into his vision. Quickly his eyes shut again, which made annoying bright circles pierce the blackness behind his lids.

"It's all right," the voice continued. "Sleep it off for as long as you want. You've been through quite a lot, that's for sure."

"Wh-wh-who are you?" Han struggled to say, his eyes still refusing to open.

"I'm Roh." Han felt something cold and damp press against his head as she spoke. "Don't worry, your friends are fine. A few injuries here and there of course, but nothing life-threatening. You're all lucky."

"Is this Tanir?" Han mumbled.

"That's what you outsiders call this planet. We simply call it home."

Han wasn't sure if this woman was playing with him or not. After a long inhale, he forced his eyes to open - which revealed that the woman's face was about three inches away from his.

"What the...?"

Roh put a cold finger on his lips. "Shh. You need to rest."

Han blinked several times, bringing Roh's face into focus. She was humanoid-ish, with light blue skin and black eyes completely void of irises. There were tentacles sticking out of the back of her head, reminiscent of a Twi'lek's tentacles, except Roh's were stark black.

"What are you...?" Han found himself saying.

Roh shrugged. "I'm a being. The same as you."

If Han weren't so dizzy, he might have made a sarcastic remark about how informative she was.

Roh continued rubbing his head with a damp cloth. "Your friends are having dinner now. If you feel well enough to eat, I'll bring you some."

"I wanna eat with them," Han growled, his voice carrying unexpected volume.

Roh's lips were pursed. "I'm afraid that may be a bit difficult."

"How so?"

"Your leg is broken."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, OW!" Han screamed for the seventh time as Roh eased his leg into place in the old-fashioned wooden wheelchair. She claimed she was being gentle, but every time she so much as touched his leg, there came sharp pain that reminded him of Darth Vader's switchboard torture. He supposed he should really consider himself lucky that he'd been unconscious when she wrapped his leg up in this solid white cast that left only his toes sticking out.

Of course, he should probably consider himself lucky that he was even alive, but the pain was distracting him from that.

"There," Roh said, her voice as gentle and placid as it was when he woke up. In fact, during the entire struggle to get him in the wheelchair, she hadn't raised her voice even once. "Now I can push you to the dining room."

To Han's dismay, he could feel every bump and crack in the wooden floor as the chair wheeled over them. His lower teeth seemed determined to run into his upper teeth every other second.

"Isn't this planet s'posed to be uninhabited?" he struggled to say between bounces.

"Is it?" said Roh. "I didn't know that."

Han grumbled an obscure obscenity to himself.

"You're fortunate that our tall trees broke your ship's crash," said Roh. "Otherwise you might not have survived."

"My ship?" A frown etched into Han's face. "What's happened to my ship??"

"It crashed," Roh said simply. "I dragged you and your friends out of there, but I'm afraid your ship has been badly damaged."

"WHAT??" Han would have jumped out of the chair if his leg weren't broken. "What all's happened to it?"

"I don't know. Not too many starships come to this planet. Ah well, you can fix it after your leg heals."

Fortunately for both of them, at that moment Roh pushed the chair through an arched doorway to the dining room - where Leia, Luke, Padme, Chewie, and Rianna sat around a table. Even 3PO and R2 were functioning, discussing their wild flight in a corner.

"So Mr. I'm-Fixing-The-Power finally woke up," Leia chided. Her left arm was in a sling, but that didn't stop her right hand from pointing at him.

"Least I still have both my arms," Han snapped.

"But _I_ can walk," Leia snapped back.

Padme snickered, despite the thick bandage wrapped around her neck. "Do you two _ever _stop fighting? Come on, we just narrowly escaped death _again_ - maybe you could appreciate that you're both alive?"

Luke nodded. The back of his head was bandaged up, leaving only the smallest bit of his hairline visible. "Of course, escaping death has become our way of life - you'd think we'd be used to it by now."

"Escapin' death is fine by me," Han replied as Roh placed a bowl of soup on the table in front of him. "It's broken legs I have trouble with."

Or broken ribs, Chewie added, causing Han to take notice of the large white bandage wrapped around his chest.

The pilot's face scrunched. "Ouch. That's gotta be _really _bad for a Wookiee. Lucky that this Roh seems skilled at wrapping people up."

"I'm the village healer, actually," said Roh, pouring Han a cup of water from an old-fashioned wooden pitcher.

"Well that explains a lot," said Han, shifting his focus to Rianna, who appeared to have sustained nothing past a black-and-blue mark on her cheek. "So Your Highness, did you use the Force to get outta getting hurt or what?"

"For your information, I didn't do anything of the sort," said Rianna. She pointed to a crutch leaning on the table next to her. "My ankle got banged up in the crash."

Han tapped his spoon on the edge of his bowl. "So I got the worst of it, I see."

"Well when you take off your safety restraint in the middle of a crash landing, that's to be expected," said Leia. "You're lucky you didn't shatter _all_ your bones."

Han groaned as he took a spoonful of soup. It was warm and spicy, though it didn't taste like any food he knew. His eyes shifted to Roh. "Well, now that we've tallied up everyone's injuries, do ya happen to know anyone named Aramita?"

Roh's black eyes widened. "She is not here right now."

"What do you mean?" asked Padme.

"Oh, she will be back soon," Roh continued. "She often disappears for a time, but she always comes back." She leaned forward, as if about to reveal a great secret. "She knew you were coming. She has the Gift."

"The...Gift?" Rianna said uneasily.

Roh stared directly at her. "She can do things others cannot. She can sense other people's presence, move objects with only her mind, see the future." She leaned in so closely that her nose was almost touching Rianna's. "In fact, she said that when you came, you would be bringing at least one other person who also has the Gift."

Padme cleared her throat loudly in order to distract Roh from Rianna's paling face. "Well...if this Gift is what I think it is...then we actually brought _three_ people who have it."

Roh turned away from Rianna, who immediately began staring at her soup. "Three? Is this true?"

Padme nodded. "My two children and my son's fiancee. I think they have your Gift...or as we call it, the Force."


	13. Chapter 13

"Destiny"

By EsmeAmelia

AN: Sorry this update took so long - blame writer's block. Anyway, thanks to the reviewers as always.

Chapter 13

"So if this Aramita actually lives in your village, then why the hell did she send that distress call...ow!" Han flinched once again as Roh gently eased his leg into bed.

"You can ask her that when she returns," said Roh, pulling the covers over Han's body. "Right now you need to sleep."

Han bit his tongue, wishing he had the energy to complain about being tucked in, wishing his eyes weren't insisting on closing, and wishing he were with the others in the living room, able to discuss the mission without this Roh present. No one had alluded to the idea of Aramita being Rianna's mother during supper, but now that Roh was with Han, they might be talking about just that - and Han was missing out on it. If only he hadn't come close to collapsing during dinner and convinced everyone that he needed to go to bed early. So what if he was still a little dizzy...okay, a _lot_ dizzy, but that didn't mean everyone had to guard him like a baby.

"Head injuries are a tricky thing," Roh was saying as Han felt himself fading away. "The best thing to do is get plenty of rest." She patted his shoulder through the covers, though his semiconscious mind barely felt it. "Let me know if you need me during the night. Sleep tight, pleasant dreams."

Han was asleep before she left the room.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

There actually wasn't much going on in the dining room that Han would mind missing. In fact, if Han had heard 3PO's constant complaining about the flight, he probably would have wanted to turn in early anyway.

"R2, I swear I shall never get on a starship with Master Han ever again," the protocol droid wailed. "I don't think my circuits can take much more damage."

R2 beeped a response.

"Well Master Luke might not be around to repair us next time we crash land. Honestly R2, sometimes your optimism makes me downright miserable."

Meanwhile, the group around the dinner table was trying to discuss the mission, but finding little to talk about.

"What do you think she meant by Aramita disappearing regularly?" Luke asked, drumming his artificial fingers on the table.

"Don't know," said Leia. "If the 'Gift' she talked about really is the Force, that fits in with her being an ex-Jedi." She eyed Rianna, who was haphazardly stirring her soup. "And she knew someone Force-sensitive would be coming..."

"Don't talk about that," Rianna said harshly, not looking up, soup splashing over the edge of her bowl. "Just...don't. Please."

Leia breathed deeply, holding up her uninjured hand as if trying to dissipate anger. "Well think about it. If she's not really in danger, then why else would she send that call?"

Padme cleared her throat. "Don't make her uncomfortable, Leia. Nothing can be done until either Aramita returns or one of us heals, whichever comes first."

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Over the next few days, the five humans and one Wookiee spent most of their time sleeping, the pain of their injuries overtaking the importance of the mission. They weren't even sure if this mission was that important anymore - however, since there never seemed to be a moment when more than one or two of them were awake at once, there wasn't much opportunity to talk about it. Rianna especially seemed determined to avoid conversation, rarely leaving her bed when the others weren't all sound asleep.

Then one night, something pulled her out of slumber, some sharp, meaningful, nearly tangible feeling. She sat up almost immediately, drowsiness completely drained out of her, taking in a long breath as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, darting around the large room for signs of life.

Each of the five other beds carried a sleeping occupant, all of whom were breathing slowly and evenly, undisturbed by her sudden movement. Rianna swallowed repeatedly, feeling an invisible, intangible tug at her spirit, like a dream so vivid that she couldn't tell whether or not it actually happened.

She remembered no dream, but the tug remained. Here eyes briefly closed, her soul reaching out with the Force...and finding something after only a few moments. Someone was outside the building...someone..._familiar._

She reached for her crutch as if in a trance, as if something was controlling her to do so. Once she felt the hard, rough wood under her fingers, she gripped it as tightly as if she would fall to her death if she let go.

Should she wake Padme? A moment after the question entered her head, she wondered what was making her think that. Why would she want Padme with her for this? Her teeth closed over her lip, for she knew the answer to that too well.

_Mother._ That word had meant almost nothing to her for so long. She had never _needed_ a mother - or so she thought. Why was it only now when her mother might return from the dead, now after she had begun associating the word _mother_ with Padme?

Using her crutch for support, she pushed herself out of bed, struggling not to think that she was betraying Padme. What kind of ridiculous notion was that? The former senator to whom she owed so much would certainly understand about her real mother.

Besides, she still didn't know for certain that this Aramita _was_ her real mother.

The fact that this Force signature felt so familiar didn't _necessarily_ mean it was her mother.

Her ankle shot with pain the instant it touched the floor. The large creaking in the floor made her hold her breath, hoping against hope that she hadn't woken anyone up, but no one stirred. Maybe if she attempted to walk she would injure herself further and prevent this meeting.

Yes...no...this meeting couldn't be prevented by something as simple as an injury. The tug on her soul seemed to be increasing its strength, like a voice becoming louder.

_She's calling me. She knows I'm here. She knows who I am._

Without thinking, her free hand reached over to the dresser and grabbed her lightsaber, though she had no idea why she would need it if her feelings were correct. Perhaps that was what this entire mission was about. There was no distress, no emergency, only a mother wanting to be reunited with her daughter.

But did the daughter want to be reunited with her mother?

- - - - - - - - - - - -

She limped out the door, getting her first look at this planet's environment. The building in which they resided stood in a circle of other small, nearly identical wooden buildings, all of which were nestled in a small clearing protected by a thick forest. Through the gaps between the trees, Rianna could make out a large body of water, its waves reflecting the light of three crescent moons.

And a lone figure standing by the water's edge.

Rianna blinked in the direction of the silhouetted figure, the Force pulsing within her, the invisible tugs growing stronger, feeling almost physical. Her crutch slowly moved in front of her, digging a spot in the cool, damp grass, preparing to support her body. Her bare feet hobbled across the ground, feeling like she could slip at any moment, flinching whenever her injured foot came in contact with anything.

She was heading towards the figure as if under an enchantment, her steps incredibly slow even for someone with a swollen ankle. All the time she stared ahead, trying in vain to make out the figure's features in the moonlight.

Finally she emerged through the trees, bringing the figure into full view. It was a woman, wearing a black dress with tight-fitting long sleeves, barefoot in the sand. She was facing the lake, revealing to Rianna only a long mane of silver-streaked black hair, yet the familiarity of her Force signature continued pulsing in Rianna's mind.

"Are...are you Aramita?" The whisper escaped her lips without thought, as if this woman were pulling the words out of her.

The stranger whipped her head around, her sharp eyes staring at Rianna. Her face was middle-aged, but her eyes had the luster of a child, only granting Rianna the ability to stare back at her. The dream she'd had of her mother tucking her in returned to her head. Even in the dim moonlight, these eyes felt like the ones she'd dreamed about, like the ones she had seen in the holos of her mother.

"You know the answer to that," the woman said in a deep voice. "You know who I am. Why else would you come for me in the middle of the night?" She blinked repeatedly. "I've been waiting for you."

Rianna swallowed, still unable to take her eyes off this woman, unable to even shift her focus to the lake behind her. "Were...were you waiting for _me_, or merely for someone to come and rescue you?"

The woman closed her eyes. "Which one do _you _think?"

The former queen suddenly felt faint, hardly aware of the pain in her ankle, yet words continued to make their way out of her mouth without the help of her brain. "My...my...my name is Rianna Trenn, daughter of Lieutenant Gerado Trenn and...and a woman named Aramita. All I know about my mother is her name - it probably means nothing."

Rianna thought she saw a tear streaming down Aramita's cheek, but it was hard to tell in the darkness. "I...I know...yes, yes, I know." She sniffed loudly - now Rianna was certain she was shedding tears. "I...I knew you would be coming..." Without warning, she suddenly threw her arms around Rianna, pushing her close to her chest. "My Rianna...my Rianna...my little girl..."

What could Rianna do? For a moment her body stiffened in shock...but then she found herself beginning to relax, as if instinct was telling her this was all right. But she didn't return the hug, didn't even move her arms. Was this how Luke and Leia felt when they met their mother? she kept wondering. Did they too feel this urge to get away from her? Did they feel this detachment, this wishing to return to normal?

"You've grown so beautiful," Aramita murmured into Rianna's hair, breathing deeply, as if savoring her scent. "You're twenty now, right? Such a long time...such a long long time..."

Of all the things flying through Rianna's mind, all the words she wanted to say, only two found their way out of her mouth, the words most pressing, most desperate, most tormenting.

"You left."

Aramita abruptly pulled out of the embrace, a look of guilt on her face. "I had no choice, my daughter. Rianna...I don't know how much your father's told you, but you and I...we're s_pecial." _

"I know," Rianna declared. She stuck out her hand and picked up a rock with the Force, making it hover towards the older woman.

Aramita sighed. "Then you know why I had to leave. Had the Empire found me, they would have killed me - and you too."

"But you couldn't even _contact_ us?" Rianna blurted. "You left me to think you were _dead._ Am I really supposed to believe that in eighteen years you couldn't send me _something_ so I'd at least know you were alive?"

The older woman sighed again. "When I fled here, my ship got battered up from that asteroid field, and the inhabitants here don't know much about technology - they certainly don't know how to fix a starship. I only recently got the communication system repaired. And even if I _could_ contact you, it would have been far too risky. I had to protect you."

"But...weren't you expelled from the Jedi Order?"

Aramita stroked her daughter's shoulder. "Where did you hear this?"

Rianna gulped. "That's a bit of a long story."

"Well I have time," Aramita declared. "Take all night if you wish."

Rianna's head was spinning. Where could she even start? Her reign as queen...her father's death...the discovery that she was Force-sensitive...her fall to the dark side...her conquering the dark side...her relationship with Luke...her engagement...there was no _possible_ way she could tell Aramita about all that now.

The older woman gave an understanding smile. "It's all right. Why don't we make things simpler? Why don't you tell me how your father's doing?"

If she wasn't leaning on a crutch, Rianna felt that she might have collapsed. Her Force senses couldn't tell if Aramita honestly didn't know what happened to her husband or if she knew but just wanted confirmation, but either way, she didn't know how she would ever explain it. It took her several minutes to find her voice.

"I'm...I'm sorry," she stuttered. "He's dead."

The woman's face fell in sadness, but there wasn't a hint of surprise. Yes, Rianna confirmed, she _did_ already know...somehow.

"How?" Aramita choked out.

Rianna gulped. "He...he was killed in battle." The truth...but not the _entire _truth.

Aramita wiped her eyes. "I-I thought as much." She sniffed. "I'm sorry..."

"It's all right," Rianna quickly said.

Aramita looked into her daughter's eyes through her tears. "When did it happen? How old were you?"

Rianna took a deep breath. "Thirteen," she whispered. She tried not to think about that time - the devastation, the rage at the Rebels, the countless visits she made to Naboo's citizens where she vowed that the Rebels would pay...the hatred of the man who was now her fiance.

Aramita once more wrapped her arms around her daughter. "It must have been awful. I...wish I could have been there for you." She ran her hands down Rianna's arms until her fingers brushed her lightsaber, tied to her crutch. "What's this, sweetheart?" she said with interest.

Rianna gulped. "If you were a Jedi, you know what it is, don't you?"

Aramita stroked the lightsaber as if it were a strange animal. "Yes...I know. But who could have trained you? The Jedi Order is extinct."

Rianna gulped again, unsure why she was revealing these things but at the same time unable to stop herself. "Emperor Palpatine is dead - did you know that? Now the Jedi Order is being rebuilt." She found that she couldn't add the fact that she herself did _not_ want to be a Jedi.

Aramita gave no response to that particular news, instead slowly pointing to her belt, where another lightsaber dangled. "I would have wanted you to have mine," she said simply.

"Well you weren't around to give me yours," Rianna said in an almost-snapping tone.

Aramita nodded, slowly, hesitantly. "Yes...you're right. I don't blame you for being angry at me now, but I hope you'll eventually be able to forgive me."

How could Rianna respond to that? Here was her _mother_, yet she was a complete stranger. She found herself wishing that she had woken Padme...yes, this would be so much easier if Padme were here. Padme had been there for her...Padme had saved her from the dark side...not her real mother.

"Maybe I will," she said softly, yet the truth was buzzing in her mind - the truth that she loved _Padme_, not Aramita. Padme was more of a mother to her than Aramita had ever been...and likely would ever be.

Aramita once more ran her fingers through the former queens hair. "I love you so much, my daughter."

Rianna gazed at the ground, knowing fully-well that she couldn't return those words...not yet, anyway.

"Is there something else you wish to tell me?" Aramita asked.

Rianna forced herself to look back up at her mother. "Not yet..." She cleared her throat. "I'm tired, I would like to go back to bed now." Her voice inadvertently contained that detached formality from her days as queen.

Aramita patted her on the head as if she were a little girl. "I understand, sweetheart. Take your time getting to know me." Before Rianna could duck away, she kissed her daughter's forehead. "Good night, sweetheart."

"Good night," Rianna whispered back, already concentrating on returning to her real family back in Roh's house.


	14. Chapter 14

"Destiny"

By EsmeAmelia

AN: As I always say, thanks for the reviews!

Chapter 14

"Luke!"

Luke jolted awake at the sound of his fiancee's voice, thinking at first to ignore it but sensing that she wouldn't leave him alone until he acknowledged her. He slowly opened his eyes and practically jumped when he discovered her face just a few inches above his.

"Riaaannnnaaaa?" he slurred in a groggy voice.

"Luke!" Rianna repeated, grinning at his sleepy face. "Luke, I need to ask you something. Something important."

"What?" Luke asked after a yawn.

"How's your head doing? Is it better?" she said in a rapid voice.

Luke rubbed his sore, still-bandaged head. It still hurt, but not quite as badly as it did when they first crash landed here...assuming he was awake enough to tell. "It's a bit better..."

"Good," said Rianna. Without any sort of preparation, she threw herself on him and kissed his lips in a frantic, hungry manner, pressing her hands against his cheeks, sucking on his lips for several long seconds.

Luke struggled to get his lips apart from hers long enough to speak. "Ri...Ri...Rianna?" He paused a second while she kissed him again. "Honey, what's going on?"

"Don't ask me that yet," the former queen answered. "I just...need you right now."

Luke didn't need the Force to tell why his fiancee was like this. "You found her, didn't you?"

Rianna paused between kisses barely long enough to give a small nod.

Luke gripped her shoulders and gently pushed upwards, separating their lips. "Well, what was she like?"

"I can tell you that later, can't I?" Rianna retorted. "Please, let's just..._enjoy_ the moment."

Luke felt his cheeks warming up at the implication of her statement. "Honey...are you sure you want this _tonight?_ What about...timing?"

"I don't care," Rianna said simply. "I need you."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Rianna lay in the dark, her head nestled on Luke's bare chest, inhaling his scent with every breath, absorbing his soft fingertips stroking her neck. Her own fingers stroked his artificial hand, which was resting right next to her face. Luke often looked at that hand with disdain, but she had never known him without it. For her, it was as much a part of him as his real hand was. She savored the metal under her fingers.

"Rianna?" her future husband whispered, making her jump slightly.

"What?" she whispered back.

"Are you ready to tell me _now?_"

Rianna sighed into his chest. "There's not really much to tell. My mother fled the Empire and took refuge here."

"Was she really a Jedi?" Luke asked.

"Well...she had a lightsaber."

Luke's fingers tapped her neck. "Do you think...she would be interested in helping me at the Jedi Academy?"

Rianna looked up at him, digging her chin into his skin. "Is that all you can say? All you can think of?"

"Rianna, it was just..."

"You're still disappointed that _I'm_ not a Jedi?" Rianna interrupted, her voice growing louder. "You still haven't gotten over that, so you wonder if my _mother_ would be more willing to accept your offer?"

"Rianna..."

"I mean, your mother says that the old Jedi Order would give parents almost no choice in giving up their Force-sensitive children - maybe you want your Order to be just like that. You already want Leia and Han's children to be Jedi even though they're barely old enough to talk. Hell, I know you'll want to train _our _children too if we ever have them..." She abruptly ceased talking, having not meant for that last part to come out...yet she realized it was true. If one of their own children opted not to become a Jedi, how would Luke handle that? Her head dropped and her cheek pressed against her fiance's chest, not wanting to see his reaction to her anger.

The silence seemed to last for hours before Luke finally spoke. "Our children...?"

"Forget I said that," Rianna mumbled. "We're not going to have them anyway."

Luke's metal hand dropped onto the mattress. "What??"

"You heard me," said Rianna, refusing to look at him. "We're not going to have children. At all."

"Rianna, I understand your not being ready, but..."

"It's not a matter of mere 'not being ready,'" Rianna snapped. "You preach so much about facing the dark side - but you never actually turned to it. You didn't willingly let your soul disappear, you didn't choose to give yourself up, you weren't so..._weak_ as I was."

Luke ferociously grabbed his fiancee's shoulders, forcing her to look him in the face. "Rianna listen to me. You're _not_ weak. You've never been weak. Only someone with incredible strength could have conquered the dark side like you did."

"You keep talking like I conquered the dark side all by myself, but you _know_ I didn't." She lowered her head, avoiding his eyes. "Our children may not be so lucky as to have your mother around to save them."

Luke sighed. "But we just..."

"That was a mistake," Rianna said harshly. "I wasn't thinking clearly."

Luke sighed again. "You really seemed to enjoy that 'mistake'..." he muttered.

The former queen pushed herself up on her arms, crawling backwards until she was able to sit up. She felt around on the bedpost until she found her nightgown, then she hastily pulled it over her head.

"Honey, I'm sorry," said Luke. "I shouldn't have brought that up." He sat up and began stroking her shoulder. "And just so you know, if our children decide that they don't want to be Jedi, I'll be perfectly fine with that."

"You say that now, but you won't mean it later," Rianna replied with a sniff, struggling to get her arms through the sleeves. "I'm going back to bed before we wake anyone up."

Luke reached for her crutch. "I'll help you."

"I can do it myself," she insisted, grabbing her crutch before Luke could get to it. With a large amount of struggling, she forced herself to her feet, her crutch sliding across the floor to get her to her bed next to Luke's.

"Good night," Luke said faintly.

Rianna pulled the covers over her head, hoping sleep wouldn't elude her tonight. "Good night."


	15. Chapter 15

"Destiny"

By EsmeAmelia

AN: Thanks as always for your lovely reviews.

Chapter 15

The sunlight pouring over Padme's bed woke her up. Her eyes opened to a squint, able to see only the bright rays magnifying themselves through the windows. With a groan, she rolled over, unwilling to completely give up on sleep right now and wondering why she had the bed closest to the window.

She was intending to go back to sleep, but the sight of her future daughter-in-law lying awake in the next bed diverted her. Rianna's green eyes were peeking out from under the covers, their whites tinted red as if she'd been crying.

"Rianna?" she asked.

Rianna immediately hid her entire face under the covers, leaving only the top of her head sticking out.

Padme pushed herself up on her elbow, stretching her neck, flinching slightly. Her bandages had been removed, but it still hurt to turn her head. "Rianna, are you all right?" When no answer came yet again, she slowly eased herself out of bed, sat down on the edge of Rianna's mattress, and leaned over where she guessed the young woman's ear was. "Rianna come on, you know you can tell me anything."

After a few seconds, her eyes hesitantly peeked out once again, slowly followed by the rest of her face. There was a hint of grayness under her eyes, as if she hadn't slept at all the previous night. "Padme..." she whispered.

Padme ran a finger through the young woman's tangled hair. "Rianna, what's wrong?"

Rianna sighed. "Everything."

"Like...?"

Rianna abruptly sat up, shifting the covers around. "Like the fact that _she's_ here. Like how she called for me through the Force last night. Like how she expected me to be perfectly fine with how she abandoned her family to escape the Empire. Like how she...I don't know how to describe it...she's _crazy._"

Padme swallowed. "So she _is _your_..."_

"Yes." She sniffed, her hands running over her knees. "I _felt_ it." She looked Padme in the eyes. "Please, for the Force's sake, don't repeat your story about those post-carbonite days. Whatever you and the others experienced, it wasn't _this._"

Padme sighed, putting a gentle hand on her future daughter-in-law's shoulder, wondering why this confirmation of Aramita's identity felt like a disappointment. Had she actually been hoping that Aramita _wasn't_ Rianna's mother? "Rianna...honey...it's all right...I'm here."

Rianna gripped Padme's nightgown sleeve, as if the mere idea that the former senator was here could give her strength. "And then there was Luke..." she mumbled.

"Luke?"

Several small breaths came out of Rianna's mouth. "Luke and I made love last night," she said quickly.

Padme's eyes widened at her bluntness. She opened her mouth, but found herself unable to respond.

"Yes I know, we threw careful timing out the window," the younger woman continued, her accent overtaking some of her words, making them difficult to decipher. "Neither of us even wore any protection. It just...happened. Like...I needed a really strong distraction from her and that was the form it took."

After a long breath, Padme finally found her voice. "Well, maybe that was good for you..."

"It wasn't," Rianna interrupted. "When I finally told him about Aramita, the first thing out of his mouth was wondering if she'd be interested in helping him at the Jedi Academy. Can you _believe _that? He doesn't even _know_ her. Hell, _I_ don't even know her."

Padme swallowed, wishing she could magically find the right thing to say.

"And then I told him I didn't want children," Rianna continued. "I don't know why - it just came out. Then it just kept getting worse from there." She sniffed a couple of times. "What a fiancee I am. I come to him in the middle of the night pouring my heart out and demanding sex - and then after he listens I yell at him."

Padme slowly, carefully wrapped her arms around her future daughter-in-law, prepared to remove them if she felt any resistance, but only feeling Rianna's head digging into her chest.

"Maybe I made a mistake," Rianna said, her voice muffled by Padme's arm. "Maybe Luke and I aren't..."

"Don't talk like that," Padme interrupted. "Relationships are like that. You have your times when everything feels incredible and your times when you wish you'd never gotten into it. Doubts, fighting, disagreements, they're part of every successful relationship. All normal couples fight. In fact..." She slyly pointed over at Leia and Han sleeping on the other side of the room. "...some couples make fighting part of their everyday life."

Rianna sniffed again, squeezing Padme's upper arm. "But what am I supposed to do about _her?_"

The ambassador gulped, running her fingers through Rianna's thick hair. "Well...what do you _want _to do about her? What do you think _she_ wants you to do?"

"I don't know," Rianna mumbled. "There was something..._strange_ about her, something _not right_. I'm almost certain that there's something she didn't tell me - something she was _keeping_ from me." She exhaled loudly. "I don't know what's going on, but I'm sure she didn't just send that distress call because she wanted to be reunited with the dear little baby girl she abandoned."

Padme patted her future daughter-in-law's back. "It's all right, it's all right."

"I know she'll want to see me again."

"Well maybe you don't _have_ to," said Padme. "If she really is your mother, she'll understand if you want time away from her."

"_Will _she?"

Padme bit her lip, wishing she felt as confident as she sounded. Ever since she'd perfected the skill as a queen, she'd always amazed herself with her ability to fake confidence. She continued stroking Rianna's head, knowing fully-well that a lot of _her_ confidence had vanished after turning to the dark side, and she had never completely recovered it.

Before Padme could think of any more comforting words, Roh burst into the room, looking more excited than the guests had ever seen her.

"Rise and shine!" she shouted. "I've got some important news!"

Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewie responded only with groans.

"Come on, get up," Roh commanded, shaking Luke's body. "Your breakfast is going to get cold."

Leia yawned, struggling to get her eyes open. "What's going on...?"

"It's what you've been waiting for," said Roh, striding over to Han's bed and slapping his side. "Aramita's returned."

Han snorted abruptly. "Tell her to come back later..." he mumbled, pulling the covers over his head.

"Now I know you're all still recovering," Roh continued, "but you will have to be at the ceremony tonight."

"What?" exclaimed Luke.

"What ceremony?" asked Padme.

"To celebrate Aramita's return and your arrival," Roh said casually. "Our elder has been desperate to meet all of you."

"Your elder?" muttered Leia.

Roh nodded eagerly. "Yes. Aside from Aramita, she is the only one of our people currently living who possesses the Gift. She will be ecstatic to meet more beings with the Gift." She clapped her hands. "Now come on, breakfast time!"

Han snored, Chewie growled, Leia mumbled a swear word, Luke sighed, and Rianna flinched in Padme's arms, and though Padme continued stroking her back, she knew that no amount of motherly gestures could comfort the former queen now.

"I _told_ you I'd be forced to see her again," Rianna whispered.


	16. Chapter 16

"Destiny"

By EsmeAmelia

AN: Thanks as always to the reviewers!

Chapter 16

"Oh no, there's no chance in hell of me wearin' _that."_

Roh sighed, shaking the deep blue robe she was holding. "You have to. It's our traditional ceremonial attire."

"It's a _dress_," Han growled.

"So?"

Han ground his teeth, resisting the urge to slap himself on the forehead. "Look, whatever the culture may be on this little backwater planet of yours, where I come from men don't wear dresses."

"Tell that to the Jedi," Luke retorted from across the room, already wearing the green robe Roh had given him.

"Well we're not on _your_ planet, are we?" Roh said in her sickly-sweet voice. "Now come on, let me dress you."

Luke burst out laughing, banging his hands against the wall.

Han glared at his brother-in-law, wishing he could get out of the wheelchair. "Kid, as soon as I can walk again I'll..."

"Okay, okay," said Luke, putting his hands up in mock surrender. "I'll leave you guys alone so she can _dress_ you in that _dress._" His muffled laughter continued as he ducked out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

Roh patted Han's shoulder. "Don't worry, I promise I won't do anything indecent."

Somehow that didn't make Han feel any better.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

When Roh wheeled Han back into the living room, the others were all tying multicolored sashes around their waists and foreheads, reminding Han of a bunch of birds growing fancy feathers for mating season.

Padme was the first to notice the two entering as she tied a sash around Leia's head. "So, Roh convinced you to come to the ceremony, Han?"

"Forced is more like it," grumbled the former smuggler, staring at the others with disgust. "And you're gonna make me wear _those_ too??"

Roh sighed. "You are one of the most stubborn beings I have ever met. These sashes represent our eternal connection with each other - of course you have to wear them." She grabbed an extra sash from Padme and began tying it around Han's waist, ignoring his grumbles.

Let me know if you want me to pull her arm off, Han, growled Chewie, who looked particularly ridiculous in an orange robe too small for him.

Han cringed as Roh pulled a sash tightly around his head. "If she makes us wear something else, I just might."

- - - - - - - - - - - -

A bonfire lit up the center of the village, surrounded by at least a hundred members of Roh's species. There were very little differences between them - the visitors found it impossible to even tell the women from the men. All were wearing robes of various colors and sashes identical to the ones the guests wore. None were wearing shoes.

They gave the group enthusiastic stares, whispering among themselves about the fascinating guests, causing Han to roll his eyes as Roh pushed his wheelchair past the curious natives.

Rianna gulped, concentrating on holding herself up with her crutch, dedicating her focus to each individual step. Padme walked next to her, her pace slow enough for her future daughter-in-law to keep up.

"I feel her..." Rianna whispered.

Padme squeezed the younger woman's shoulder. "Don't worry, it will be all right."

3PO appeared as nervous as Rianna as he hobbled along the edge of the fire. "R2, I must say that all these stares are making me most uncomfortable."

R2 beeped a possible reason.

"What do you mean they don't see too many droids? Come on R2, you're making them sound like Ewoks - we don't want to disrespect them."

The group arrived at what might be the "head" of the bonfire - if the fire weren't circular. An elderly member of Roh's apparently nameless species was seated cross-legged on the ground, her eyes closed. Her blue face was wrinkled and her chin was dragging, yet she carried herself with perfect posture. Along with the multicolored sashes everyone else was wearing, she also wore a necklace of heavy-looking pointed stones around her neck and there were bright orange lines painted on her cheeks.

"Elder Paku," Roh whispered, stepping in front of Han's wheelchair and sinking to her knees. "My lady, I have brought the visitors as you requested."

Elder Paku opened her eyes, staring directly into the fire without squinting event the tiniest bit, revealing her cloudy irises to the guests, showing them something Roh had failed to mention. She was blind.

"I sense the Gift," Elder Paku said in a low, raspy voice, breathing heavily. "It is strong among these outsiders." She slowly lifted her hand. "Three...three of them carry the Gift."

"Yes, my lady," answered Roh.

Elder Paku raised her head, her sightless eyes staring at Leia. "All are connected. Two are related and two are lovers." Her hand pointed up at Leia. "One has suffered a mighty loss. There is great sadness in her, but also great courage." Her head turned towards Luke. "And her brother...he has great compassion. He has a persistent spirit that has saved many he holds dear. And his lover..." She snapped her head to face Rianna. "...she has faced a great evil within her."

"_Lover?"_ a deep voice exclaimed. All heads turned to find a human woman with long black hair striding up to the guests. "My darling, why didn't you tell me you were seeing someone?"

Rianna stumbled on her crutch as she made an attempt to duck behind Padme that proved itself futile. Aramita came running up to her daughter, much to the astonishment of the other guests. Her robe was stark black, dramatically contrasting with her sashes. "Sweetheart, I'm so happy for you. Who might this lucky man be?"

Rianna's heartbeat quickened as she forced herself to extend her free arm to Luke. "Aramita...this is Luke. He's...my fiance."

A large, nearly inhuman smile spread across Aramita's face as she stared at Luke. "I'm going to have a son-in-law? This is _marvelous."_

"Uh...hello Aramita," Luke said awkwardly.

"You look like a fine young man for my daughter," said Aramita. "She obviously has good taste - just as I did."

Rianna gulped, wondering how long it would be before Aramita found out exactly how her husband died. It wasn't likely that she'd still think Rianna had "good taste" after that. She shivered slightly at how quickly her mother took a liking to Luke. Did she genuinely like him, or did she somehow know what he had done? Was this some sort of cover for her real feelings?

"Oh great," Han mumbled. "The famous Aramita's a nutcase."

Before Aramita could take notice of the pilot, Padme stepped in front of Luke and offered her hand. "Hello, I'm Padme Amidala. Luke is my son."

"My word," Aramita breathed, her eyes bulging. "Queen Amidala herself. Didn't you..._die_ some years ago?"

Padme sighed. "It's a pretty long story, but no, I didn't die."

With that, Aramita grabbed Padme's hand and began shaking it so hard that it looked like she was trying to snap it off. "My daughter's marrying the son of Queen Amidala - this is too good to be true...too good to be true..."

"Aramita," Elder Paku interrupted, again staring blindly at the fire, "be careful with your daughter - and the family she's marrying into."

"Whatever do you mean, Elder Paku?"

Elder Paku inhaled so loudly that it sounded like she was growling. "Your daughter has faced evil from within - and soon both she and her fiance's family will face evil from without."


	17. Chapter 17

"Destiny"

By EsmeAmelia

AN: Thanks as always for your reviews! Unfortunately, this may be my last chapter for a while. I'm participating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) again this year, and in order to concentrate on that I'll put my fanfics on hold. Never you worry, in December I'll go back to continuing my fanfics.

Chapter 17

The ceremony lasted for hours. The natives provided music and songs in honor of the visitors, along with a lavish amount of food and drink. By the time it finally wound down, Han was close to falling asleep in his wheelchair and the others looked almost as tired as he was. Roh quickly decided it was time to escort the guests back to her home.

Padme rubbed her eyes as the group trudged towards Roh's house, blinking slowly, staring at the thick trees that guarded the village, looking forward to a good night's sleep, but then something caught her eye. It began as a flash of light among the trees, quickly materializing into a blue-tinted ghostly figure, smiling at his family.

"Hello, everyone," Anakin said.

Han was mostly asleep by now, but he managed a tired wave at his father-in-law before Roh pushed him into the house, closely followed by Chewie and the droids. The others stayed behind, eager to hear what Anakin's ghost had to tell them.

"Ani," Padme said with a large smile, allowing her husband to hug her and kiss her cheek with that intangible warmth she had grown accustomed to. "What brings you here?"

Anakin released her from his embrace, his focus darting around the group. "Unfortunately, something wrong, something that involves our daughter-in-law."

"Me?" Rianna exclaimed, her eyes wide and unblinking. The others had told her about their visits from Anakin's ghost, but this was the first time she had seen a ghost for herself.

Luke instinctively put his hands on his fiancee's shoulders. "What is it, Father?"

Anakin was staring at Rianna, making her turn pale. "Someone close to her is having difficulty crossing out of the Force netherworld."

Padme gulped, remembering how Anakin and Obi-Wan had told her that not all souls retained their identities after they died. The Force-sensitive ghosts had to work to bring back the identities of the non-Force-sensitive dead. She reached over and gently gripped Rianna's wrist, ready to support her.

"Who?" Leia asked, though she looked like she had already guessed the answer.

Anakin gently stroked his daughter's broken arm. "I'll show you."

Another ghost appeared next to Anakin, appearing confused and out of sorts. He had short, dark blonde hair and a round face shape. His eyes were wide, his head darting around in all directions, as if desperately looking for something but unsure exactly what it was.

"FATHER!!" Rianna yelled, nearly stumbling to the ground. She hobbled up to the ghost, her crutch in danger of falling, her cheeks already stained with tears. "Father...Father...Father..."

The ghost blinked at her. "Do I know you?"

"What??" Rianna exclaimed, sobs overtaking her voice. "It's me, it's Rianna, your _daughter!" _

The ghost blinked again, slowly reach his arm out to here. "My daughter...yes...I had a daughter..."

Luke gulped, staring at the ghost of Gerado Trenn, a man who had died by his hand. Padme gently stroked his arm. "It's all right, Luke," she whispered, though she wasn't sure if things were all right or not.

"Yes Father," Rianna choked out. "You have a daughter. Rianna."

"Rianna?" The ghost stared at the young woman, as if searching for some sign of familiarity. "She's...she's only thirteen...newly appointed Queen of Naboo. You...you can't be her...she's only thirteen..."

Rianna swallowed loudly. "I've...I've grown up...that's all..."

"Grown up?" The ghost shifted his focus around the group, as if asking how long he had been dead, though none had the heart to answer him.

Anakin put his hand on Gerado's shoulder. "We've already told you that time has passed without your knowledge."

"Time?" Gerado asked, as if he had never heard of the concept.

"Yes," replied Anakin. "Seven years."

Gerado's mouth hung open as he returned to staring at his daughter. "Where is my wife?" he said in a small, timid voice. "Where is Aramita? She will know this is not our daughter."

"You cannot see her yet," Anakin said firmly.

"I _am _your daughter," Rianna insisted through her sobs. "I _am!"_

Padme stepped hesitantly behind her future daughter-in-law and softly patted her back, but her action went unnoticed. Rianna stared unblinkingly at Gerado's ghost as he gave a confused stare back to her, reminding Padme of a child.

"My daughter is thirteen..." he repeated in a terrified whisper.

Anakin wrapped his arm around Gerado's shoulders, gently pushing him like a parent pushing a child to leave the room. "It's all right, Gerado," he murmured. "We're here to help you."

"My daughter is thirteen...she's only thirteen..." Gerado's ghost kept muttering before he vanished.

Rianna continued to stare at the spot where her father was. "What's wrong with him?" she whimpered.

Anakin sighed. "We don't really know. We thought seeing you would help bring his memory back..."

"What?"

"His memory of his life is faulty. At first he could remember nothing at all - he didn't even remember you until he saw you tonight."

Padme quickly stepped up next to Rianna. "Well surely there must be something you can do." She tried her best to sound calm even though her heart was rushing. Long ago she had wondered what would happen to a soul who had difficulty coming back from the empty netherworld of the Force. Did this mean Gerado's spirit would be trapped forever in this confusion?

Anakin sighed again. "I don't know. Along with his memory, his spirit refuses to accept that he has passed on. He believes that he's...still alive."

"Is that a _bad_ thing?" asked Luke. "I mean, there's not much difference between you and a living person, is there?"

Anakin smiled at his son. "We exist like you do, but unlike you, we have eternity, and with that we have to accept that whatever we might have done during our lives cannot be changed. It..." A brief look of sadness overtook his face. "...it took me a long time to move on from my own life."

Padme nodded, remembering the devastation he expressed the first time she saw his ghost.

"I think he's blocking out his memories," Anakin continued. "His spirit is unable to face what he did."

"Alderaan," Leia said softly.

Anakin reached over and touched his daughter's cheek. "Yes, that's probably it."

Rianna was trembling, unsteadily leaning on her crutch. "So...so he _did_ have a hand in it?"

Anakin cupped his future daughter-in-law's face in his hands. "Yes. He was one of the soldiers who worked the controls that...did it. And he'll need to remember it in order to move on."

Nearly all the color was drained out of Rianna's cheeks. "Is...is there anything we can do to help him?"

"Perhaps," said Anakin. "If you tell his wife about it, she might be able to see him then."

Padme quickly wrapped her arms around the former queen to protect her from collapsing. "She can't see him? Why?"

"We don't know," replied Anakin. "There's something inhabiting her subconscious, something that shouldn't be there."

"We already figured _that_ out," muttered Leia.

Anakin stared at his family. "Will you try to help her?"

Rianna's weight was pressing against Padme's body, but with a struggle she managed to nod. "Yes...yes, we will."

"We'll do whatever we can, Ani," Padme added.

Anakin kissed his wife's forehead, filling her spirit with comfort. "I have faith in you, Padme."


	18. Chapter 18

"Destiny"

By EsmeAmelia

AN: Thanks to all who reviewed while I was gone! Sorry about the long gap between updates - first there was NaNoWriMo, then the Christmas season kept me busy. Anyway, I'm back to this fic now.

Chapter 18

Han and Chewie were sleeping when the rest of the family returned to Roh's house. They removed their robes and sashes in almost complete darkness, not caring that they were in front of each other in their underwear. They couldn't see much of each other anyway.

Leia yawned as she eased her nightgown's strap over her broken arm's cast, gazing down at what little she could see of her husband, listening to his soft snores. How would _he_ react to Anakin's news about Rianna's father? He'd probably either laugh or say this entire mission was crazy. Or both.

She carefully climbed into the bed next to his, steadying herself as best she could with her one good arm. As she sank her head into the pillow, she was thankful that she could at least wait until tomorrow to tell Han about their strange encounter.

"So what did old daddy-in-law tell you guys?"

Or not.

Leia groaned. "Go back to sleep, Han. I'll tell you tomorrow."

"And why can't you tell me tonight?"

"Maybe because I don't want to?"

"And since when is that a good reason?"

Leia was distracted from retorting by Rianna sobbing softly from one of the beds on the other end of the room, her face buried in Padme's chest, Luke gently stroking her back.

"What's wrong with her?" Han asked, his voice hushed down to a whisper. "Did her mom bother her _that_ much?"

"No." Leia sighed deeply. "It's her_ father._"

"_Again?_ I thought she was over that."

Leia sighed again, thankful Han couldn't see her eyes roll in the darkness. "No, this is different." Before she had time to convince herself not to, she told Han about their encounter with Rianna's father, which silenced him for several long moments. Rianna's crying was the only sound to be heard for such an extended time that Leia almost thought Han had fallen back asleep, but then he finally spoke up.

"And just when I thought our lives couldn't get any weirder . . ." he mumbled.

Leia swallowed. "Is that all you have to say?"

"Well whaddaya _want_ me to say?" Han sighed heavily. "You want me to go over there and dry her tears? Somethin' tells me she wouldn't like that too much."

Leia was silent, staring ahead at her future sister-in-law breaking down in sobs, her cries so deep that she seemed to be struggling to breathe, that she sounded like she was choking. Padme was whispering words of comfort to her, but Leia couldn't make out any of them.

"Jealous of her?" Han said suddenly.

Leia whipped her head back to facing her husband. "What?"

"Are you jealous of Rianna?" Han repeated. "Ya know, with how much your mom's been fussin' over her lately. I mean, she's not even officially a member of this family yet and your mom's already payin' more attention to her than to you."

"Don't be ridiculous," grumbled Leia. "Rianna's going through some tough times right now, that's all."

"Maybe," said Han, "but she sure seems to be taking advantage of your mom's full attention."

Leia sighed. "Like _you_ didn't take advantage of my mom's full attention when I sent you to serve her breakfast and you started telling her stories about your accomplishments?"

"C'mon, I didn't even _know_ she was your mom then."

"That wasn't the _only _time," Leia muttered. She sank her head back into the pillow. "Now please Han, go to sleep."

"And what'll you do to me if I don't?"

Leia covered her eyes with her good arm, hearing that Rianna's sobs were finally beginning to die down. She heard Padme whisper a good night to her, followed by the mattress creaking, indicating that Rianna was settled enough for Padme to go to her own bed.

"Break your other leg, maybe," Leia finally said. "Or better yet, withhold certain means of _entertainment_ after your leg's better."

She heard her husband giggle slightly. "Okay, okay, you win." His mattress creaked as he settled back down. "Good night, sweetheart."

"Good night."

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Around the breakfast table the next morning, the family was silent. Though each probably thought everyone else would want to talk about last night, none were willing to actually start the conversation. Thus nothing was spoken until Roh approached the table, looking too excited for anyone's comfort.

"Rianna," Roh said, "you have a _very_ special visitor." She ruffled the former queen's hair. "Why didn't you _tell_ me Aramita was your mother? I could have arranged for her to visit here first thing after she returned."

"That wouldn't have been necessary," Rianna mumbled. "I saw her anyway."

"Well come on, you don't want to keep her waiting."

Rianna sighed, eyeing Padme, as if silently pleading the ambassador to come with her. Padme quickly got the message and put down her spoon. "I'll come see the visitor too."

"All right," said Roh.

- - - - - - - -

Aramita was lounging on the sofa, her bare feet propped on the end cushion. Once again she was wearing black – Rianna started to wonder if she even _had_ clothes in any other colors. The instant the former Jedi saw her daughter, she sprang to her feet and dashed over to the two women.

"My daughter!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around Rianna, nearly knocking her off her crutch. "I have some exciting news."

"Well . . . we have some news too," Rianna mumbled as Aramita finally released her. "I don't know if I'd call it 'exciting,' though."

"Then I'll give you my news first," Aramita replied, a smile that bordered on maniacal stretching across her face.

Rianna sighed. "All right, what is it?"

Aramita clasped her hands together. "I'm going to be staying here with you for a while!"

"What??" Rianna and Padme exclaimed in unison.

"You heard me," said Aramita, smiling eerily, swaying from side to side. "I'm staying here with you until your ankle's better."

Rianna appeared to be struck speechless – her mouth was hanging open and her hand looked like it was losing grip on her crutch. Padme thought it best to say something before she fell over.

"You don't need to do that," the ambassador stated. "I think we have all the spare beds taken."

"That's not a problem," Aramita replied quickly, as if she had her answer all prepared ahead of time. "Roh has assured me that the sofa isn't taken. I don't sleep that much anyway."

Padme hid her desire to ask Aramita to elaborate on that last statement. "But still . . . it seems only right that you should ask the others if it's all right with them."

"Why?" said Aramita. "This isn't _your_ house. This is _Roh's_ house, and she already said it would be fine." She stroked her daughter's unflinching shoulder. "Why should I ask the _guests'_ permission to stay here?"

"Because we're all recovering from various injuries," Rianna said quickly. "We all want quiet and we _don't_ want to be disturbed by strange guests."

Aramita shook her head like a teacher having to explain something to a slow student. "Come on darling, I'm not a _strange_ guest." She patted Rianna's cheek in a somewhat obnoxious manner. "This will be the _perfect_ opportunity for us to get to know each other, sweetheart."

Rianna remained stoic, though Padme figured she probably wanted to yell at Aramita to leave. "Well . . ." the ambassador intervened, ". . . you might want to hear _our_ news before you decide to stay here."

Aramita finally released her daughter, who quickly maneuvered herself back to Padme's side with her crutch. "All right, let's hear your news," the former Jedi said.

Padme looked at Rianna, trying to read some sign of whether or not she wanted to deliver the news herself, but when Rianna continued to be silent, Padme decided to go ahead with it herself.

"Aramita," she said hesitantly, "we met your husband last night."


	19. Chapter 19

"Destiny"

By EsmeAmelia

AN: Thanks as always for the reviews! Warning: This chapter is a bit . . . gross, but I hope you'll put up with it anyway.

Chapter 19

Aramita's eyes bulged for a second or two, but she quickly appeared to regain her composure. A queer smile slowly grew on her face, effectively masking whatever shock she was feeling. She patted Rianna on the head like she was a small child, giggling slightly before speaking.

"Rianna sweetie," she said, "I thought you told me your father was dead."

"He is," Rianna replied, sounding like she was struggling to keep her voice cold.

Aramita's eerie smile widened until her cheeks looked scrunched. "Well then, how could you have possibly seen him, my dear?"

"We saw his ghost," Padme said bluntly. Normally she would want to give some appropriate preparation before revealing the truth, but she could tell that Rianna wanted to get away from Aramita as soon as possible.

The former Jedi laughed again, as if laughing at a small child's antics. "Now come on, sweetheart, you're a little old to believe in ghosts, aren't you?"

Rianna's brow furrowed. "We _did_ see Father's ghost. He's in trouble – he needs your help."

"_My_ help?" Aramita patted her daughter's head again. "Oh come on, why do you feel the need to make up this ridiculous story? Is it because you're afraid of me?"

Rianna's hands were slowly clenching, looking like they were itching to punch Aramita in the face. "Look, if you ever actually loved Father, you'll listen to me! His spirit is confused and afraid – he didn't even recognize _me_ last night! He wants to see you but for some reason he can't appear to you."

Aramita smirked. "Darling, is this some sort of cry for help?"

"You're damn right it is!" Rianna said in a voice close to a shout.

Aramita ran her fingers through her daughter's thick hair. "Well then, I'll do all I can to help you. There's no need to tell fantasies in order to get my help."

Rianna growled. "_No_, I mean it's a call for help from _him._ If you don't believe me, ask everyone else about it."

The ex-Jedi gave a long, deep sigh, seriousness overtaking her face. "Rianna, I understand that meeting me has been a shock, but there's no need to lie to me." She took in a loud inhale, as if preparing to deliver a reprimand. "I will be available to talk when you aren't telling ridiculous stories."

Without another word, she stormed outside.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Weeks passed, though none of the visitors could tell exactly how long because they were all losing track of time. Had it been three weeks? Four? None could answer, and since the Tanir natives didn't keep track of time units longer than days, Roh couldn't answer for them.

Everyone was slowly recovering. Rianna could now limp for short distances without a crutch, and Leia's arm was gradually becoming more mobile. Chewie complained about the pain in his ribs less often. The only one who didn't seem to be getting reliably stronger was Han, who was still confined to the bed and the wheelchair. He often expressed a large amount of distaste for Roh's healing methods, but no matter how much he yelled at her, she continued to insist that broken legs healed at their own pace and couldn't be rushed.

Aramita was still staying at Roh's house, though Rianna avoided her as much as possible. Most of the time she achieved this by feigning that her ankle wasn't healing at all and she needed large amounts of rest. Of course, she kept wondering if her mother suspected that she was lying and only complied because she was afraid that she'd bring up her father again.

Her father . . .

Though she hadn't seen his ghost again, his face nevertheless haunted her mind, constantly reminding her of her failure to help him. There were many times when she tried to think of a way to convince Aramita that she was telling the truth, but nothing ever came from it.

Then one night, she woke up feeling ill. Her stomach was churning as if she had eaten something that went bad, and her head was spinning in a similar way. She sprung to a sitting position, clutching her mouth, already feeling the burning, disgusting liquid trying to push its way out.

She leaned over, still clutching her mouth, her breath coming out of her nostrils in rapid, desperate succession as her free hand fumbled around in the dark for that wretched clay pot under her bed, cursing the unavailability of a modern refresher. The instant she felt it, she yanked it out and leaned into it, releasing her nausea in long, painful bouts. With each wave, her lungs burned, sweat exploded out of her pores, and her tongue was overwhelmed by that horrible, acidic taste.

_Don't think about it, _her mind repeated to itself, the only defense it had against the moment. _Don't think about it._

Her stomach finally calmed down, but she herself didn't. As her breath came out in loud, labored heaves, her eyes squeezed themselves shut, trying to block out the pot in her lap, trying to forget the last minute or so.

_What just happened?_ she thought, though she knew the answer before her mind was finished forming the question. She had felt sick a few other times before this – this was just the first time she'd actually vomited. Recurring moments of sickness that faded as suddenly as she came – she knew perfectly well what sort of condition that might indicate.

_Damn you, Rianna. You are the biggest idiot in the galaxy, you know that?_ So much careful timing, so many nights of refusing Luke's pleas – all in vain just because of one night. One night. One night of giving in to spontaneity. One night of depression. She should have _known_ it wasn't a good idea. Why did she allow distress to cloud her reason?

Her hand went to her stomach, feeling nothing different physically but sensing that something had changed. She would probably still sense it even if she didn't have the Force. Something had almost definitely come from that night with Luke. For a moment she wanted to blame Aramita for it all, then she wanted to hide away from everyone, then she desperately, desperately wanted to turn back the time and change that night.

With great reluctance, her eyes opened, reminding her of that awful pot in her lap. She glanced around, seeing that everyone else seemed to be asleep, undisturbed by the racket she'd just caused. Should she wake someone up? Her childish side ached for Padme's arms to hold her, but the rest of her wouldn't allow it. Not now, at least.

And Luke? Should she tell Luke? She could already imagine his ecstatic response, the joy in his eyes, the complete obliviousness to the danger that he might someday find himself the father of a Sith. He wouldn't listen to her concern once she was pregnant.

Did Roh know a safe process that could fix her condition? The idea hovered over her head, bursting with appeal for one brief second before crashing down. Even if Roh _could_ perform an abortion, Rianna suddenly realized that she couldn't go through with it. The baby already existed – she couldn't live with a decision to eliminate it.

The baby . . .

_I'm too young to be a mother._ The notion was there, but it carried little credibility, perhaps because she had never really gotten a chance to be young. She had been too young to rule a planet, too young to lose her father, too young to face the dark side . . . and yet all of that happened without the Force ever considering her age.

She closed her eyes, concentrating her Force senses on her womb, feeling a tiny presence, something _not a part of her._ Was that what pregnancy felt like? Did it mean for _certain_ that she was pregnant?

Suddenly she gripped the edge of the pot, realizing that she absolutely did _not_ want it sitting under her bed with the contents it contained. She would have to empty it before she could think about anything else.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As she limped through the dark living room, Rianna listened to her own breathing, concentrating on keeping it steady and quiet, fiercely trying to ignore the awful stench of the pot she was carrying, hoping she wouldn't remember any of this tomorrow. Pain shot through her injured foot with every step – she hadn't taken the time to get her crutch. Leaning on a crutch would mean a greater risk of dropping the pot. The door was in sight . . . it couldn't be much further now . . .

Suddenly a hand reached out of the darkness, grabbing her shoulder. Before she could cry out, another hand covered her mouth.

"Help me . . ." Aramita's voice hissed, sounding more vulnerable than Rianna had ever heard it. "Save me . . . stop me . . . stop me . . ."

"Stop you from doing what?" Rianna attempted to ask through her mother's fingers, but her question came out muffled. Aramita's fingers were pressed so far into Rianna's lips that she could almost taste them. Then as suddenly as she appeared, she let go.

Rianna knew she should ask what was wrong, ask what her mother meant, ask _something_, but once she was released, her only thought was to escape, leave the house, leave her mother. She stumbled through the dark, pushing herself against the door, then falling into a heap when the door flung open. The pot slipped out of her hands and tumbled out of sight.

Gritting her teeth, concentrating on ignoring the flaring pain in her ankle, she struggled back to her feet, knowing for certain that she was _not_ going to try to get the pot back and risk injuring her ankle further. She could only hope that the sickness wouldn't strike her again.

She limped back to the bedroom as if in a trance, thinking only of returning, but when she passed the sofa, something compelled her to look to the side, so see what her mother was up to.

Aramita was asleep, or so she appeared to be. She breathed calmly and peacefully, showing no sign that she needed Rianna's help.


	20. Chapter 20

"Destiny"

By EsmeAmelia

AN: Thanks for the reviews!

Chapter 20

The next day was sunny and bright, putting the family in the mood for spending the day outside. Roh decided to take all her guests on a picnic, where they could enjoy the atmosphere of the village. Indeed, many of the natives were enjoying the outdoors as well, which gave Roh the opportunity to introduce many of her friends to her visitors.

Luke was lounging on the picnic blanket, smiling dreamily at his fiancee as he enjoyed a large orange fruit that grew on Tanir. "This planet is gorgeous, isn't it?"

"Yes it is," said Aramita, speaking for the first time since they'd left Roh's house. Despite the fact that the other guests usually ignored her, she still insisted on joining them on their outing. "Part of the reason why I decided to stay here." She looked her future son-in-law in the eye. "It's so quiet here, so peaceful, very different from a battle, isn't it?"

Luke shuddered slightly at the mention of a battle. Padme suddenly wondered if he would disclose that he was the deciding force in the battle that killed Gerado, but he simply said, "Yes, very different."

"Personally, this place is a little _too_ quiet for my taste," said Leia.

Aramita ignored her, instead turning to Rianna. "You know sweetheart, if you were to choose to stay here after your ship's fixed, I would be more than happy to help you settle down."

A slight fumble of her hands was the only visible sign of Rianna's shock. "That won't be necessary. I'm engaged, don't forget."

Aramita shrugged in a flippant manner. "Well then, your boyfriend could stay as well. This is a lovely place for a wedding, after all."

"_No_," Rianna said in a voice close to a snap. "We're getting married on Naboo, end of discussion."

Aramita's smile didn't fade. "Ah, Naboo, that planet brings back so many fond memories." She ran her hand over the picnic blanket as if trying to smooth it. "Well I'll certainly be coming to your wedding regardless of whether or not you choose to stay."

Han groaned through his teeth. "Look lady," he said from his wheelchair, "can't you get it through your thick head that she doesn't wanna talk to you?"

Aramita snapped her head up to face him. "Well that doesn't change the fact that she's my daughter, does it? Only the most _selfish,_ most _horrid_ daughter in the galaxy would forbid her own mother from coming to her wedding." She turned back to Rianna. "Isn't that right, my dear?"

"You're _nuts,"_ growled Han. "The only reason we're here in the first place is cause of that phony distress call of yours." He pointed to his broken leg. "See this? I got it cause of you. In fact, we _all_ almost got killed because of you – and that includes your precious daughter."

Aramita sniffed. "Well perhaps if there was a more competent pilot on your ship, you wouldn't have crash landed."

"Ooooh," Luke breathed with a round mouth. "You're gonna be in _big _trouble now."

Han ground his teeth, irritating Padme's ears. "Ya know, I could waste time arguing with a pilot who was so incompetent that she couldn't even get her ship fixed after _years_ of bein' stranded here, but it ain't worth the effort."

Leia was grinning slyly. "Well honey, she _does_ have a point there."

Han growled again before turning to face Roh. "I've had enough of this – how about wheelin' me back now? After all, you _love_ doin' it so much."

Roh looked like she had been stifling giggles for quite some time. "Why? It was just starting to get entertaining."

[Nothing entertains like you in an argument, cub,] Chewie agreed.

"Well maybe I ain't in the mood to be entertaining," Han grumbled.

"And that's when you're the _most_ entertaining," said Leia, that sly grin still on her face.

Han slapped his chair's armrest, glaring at their hostess. "Look, I'm serious, take me back. It's gettin' hot and I'd like to take a nap anyway."

"Fine, fine," said Roh, rising to her feet and gripping the wheelchair. "Everyone, I'll be back as soon as I've dropped him off."

After Roh wheeled Han away, Aramita looked back at her daughter, once more bearing that sickly sweet smile. "So, we were talking about your wedding, weren't we? I'm _so_ looking forward to it." She shifted her glance from Rianna to Luke and back again. "You must wear white, of course, just like I did."

"I already have a dress," Rianna grumbled.

"Goodness, child," said Aramita. "Isn't there _anything_ I can assist in? You know, usually the bride's mother is the one making most of the preparations."

Rianna exhaled through clenched teeth. "Need I remind you that I didn't even know you were _alive_ until just recently?"

Luke looked up at his future mother-in-law. "Look, just because you weren't around to help with the preparations doesn't mean you can't come."

"What??" Rianna reacted.

Padme bit her lip, wondering how long she could keep herself out of the conversation.

"Well of _course_ she can come, right?" Luke continued, a hint of surprise in his voice. "I mean, she's family, after all."

"Exactly," said Aramita, smiling at her future son-in-law. "And think of all the children you'll have – you'll definitely want me around to help out with them, right?"

Rianna suddenly put down her plate. "Han's right, it's getting hot," she said rapidly. "I think I'll go take a nap too – I didn't get much sleep last night." She looked over at Padme. "My crutch, please."

Once Padme helped Rianna to her feet and handed over her crutch, she began hobbling back to Roh's house so fast that she looked like she was going to fall over at any second. The others stared after her, stunned by her behavior.

"Why wouldn't she want me at her wedding?" Aramita said softly, sounding more hurt than Padme had ever heard her.

Padme sighed. "Look, I'll go talk to her." Before anyone could say anything more, she started following her future daughter-in-law.

- - - - - - - - - -

Han was asleep on top of his covers when Padme reached the bedroom, his broken leg propped up on several pillows. Padme couldn't help smiling as she passed him – he always looked so cute when he slept. She found herself looking at him for several seconds before she remembered the reason why she was here.

Rianna too was lying on top of her covers, but unlike Han, she was wide awake, staring up at the ceiling, appearing distraught and uneasy, her fingers vaguely fiddling with her pillow.

"Rianna?" Padme said gently.

The younger woman gave no answer, no acknowledgment of Padme's presence. She continued staring upward, as if trying to figure out a meaning in the wooden ceiling's cracks.

"Rianna?" Padme repeated. "Come on honey, what's wrong?"

Rianna's eyes finally shifted in Padme's direction. _"Everything's_ wrong, that's what."

Padme carefully sat down on the foot of the bed. "Well, is there anything _specific_ that's wrong?"

Rianna gulped as she slowly pushed herself to a sitting position. Her eyes were lowered as if she were studying her knees. "I don't know how to tell you . . ." she mumbled.

Padme placed a hand on her future daughter-in-law's shoulder. "Try," she said in the most gentle voice she could manage.

The young woman looked up at her, blinking nervously. "All right . . ." She let out a long sigh before continuing, staring into Padme's eyes. "Padme . . . I think I'm pregnant . . ."

Padme felt her jaw drop, but only slightly. She remembered hearing these words before. When Leia announced that she was having a third child. Even earlier than that, when Leia disclosed her pregnancy with the twins the day after she released her mother from carbonite. Padme also remembered speaking these words herself to her husband, the words that had led to so much that was both good and bad.

"Are you sure?" she finally whispered.

"Of _course_ I'm not _sure!_" Rianna hissed. "Do you think there's any such thing as a pregnancy test on this planet? I'm just . . . getting _signs._"

"Like what?"

Rianna lowered her eyes again, biting her lip. "I . . . I threw up last night . . ." she mumbled. "I've been getting little bouts of sickness lately. And . . . well, I don't know how to explain it . . . I looked inside myself with the Force and found something . . . _different._" She looked back up at her future mother-in-law. "I don't know for certain if it means I'm pregnant, but I'm _pretty_ sure I am . . ."

"What?? Luke knocked you up?? I didn't think the kid had it in 'im."

Both women gasped as their heads snapped towards Han's bed, seeing that he was awake, propping himself up on his elbows, his hair mussed, a tired and yet cheeky grin on his face.

"Han . . ." Padme groaned.

"What?" Han said innocently. "I just wanna know if I'm gonna be an uncle, that's all."

Rianna sighed through her teeth in an annoyed manner. "The idea of having _you_ for a brother-in-law still gives me second thoughts about marrying into this family, you know that?"

"Well like it or not, your _baby's_ gonna have me for an uncle, so you'd better get used to it."

"_Anyway,_" Padme said quickly, "have you told Luke yet?"

Rianna shook her head. "I'm not sure if I _should _tell him."

Han blew air out of his mouth. "Well speakin' as a guy, I know the dad usually likes to know about the baby as soon as possible." His eyes shifted teasingly. "Unless, of course, he's _not_ the dad."

"HAN!" Rianna shouted.

"Han, come on," said Padme. "Can't you see she's not in the mood for jokes?" She turned back to her future daughter-in-law. "Why haven't you told him?"

Rianna's hand was on her stomach, as if she thought the baby might break the usual rules of development and start kicking now. "I don't know . . . I've refused him so many times so this _wouldn't_ happen . . . maybe that has something to do with it . . ." She glared over at Han. _"You're_ not going to tell him, are you?"

"I ain't in the habit of tellin' secrets unless I'm paid, sister," said Han. "But _you_ should tell him."

Ignoring her son-in-law, Padme gently place her hand on Rianna's abdomen. "Rianna, it's natural to be hesitant. Force knows how scared I was to tell Anakin I was pregnant. Having a baby meant everything in our lives could change." She blinked, trying to keep the thoughts of Anakin's transformation from surfacing. "And everything _did_ change."

"I know," Rianna whispered, her breath coming out in long heaves. "Everything will change for me and Luke too, won't it?" She stared at Padme, her eyes full of desperation. "They could change in a bad way, couldn't they?"

Padme knew all too well what Rianna was referring to. "Well . . . whether you're Force-sensitive or not, there's always a possibility that things will change in a bad way, but you shouldn't let that stop you." She ran her hand up and down Rianna's stomach. "Yes, horrible things happened when I was pregnant, but I've never regretted having Luke and Leia. They are my blessing . . . just like how your baby is _your_ blessing – and Luke's."

Rianna continued staring at her future mother-in-law. "What will Luke say?"

"What will Luke say??" Han exclaimed. "You're _seriously_ wonderin' that? Here's what Luke'll say – he won't be able to stop screamin' about how excited he is." He pointed a sly finger at Rianna. "Trust me, I've got three kids, I know what it's like."

"_Do_ you?" Rianna snapped. "At least you were already _married_ when Leia got pregnant. At least _Leia_ didn't keep insisting that she didn't want to have children. At least _she_ didn't keep depriving you of romantic pleasures because she was scared to death of having children."

"Oh, so you think we _weren't_ scared to death?" Han snapped back. "I'll have you know that I was pretty damn terrified when Leia got pregnant."

"Oh _really?_" said Rianna, raising an eyebrow at him. "Leia says she couldn't stop you from jumping up and down in excitement."

"Well yeah, but then a wonderful little thing called _reality_ reared its ugly head," said Han. "I started wonderin' what kinda father I was gonna be, what the kids were gonna think of me, that sorta thing." With a grunt, he shifted his weight to one side. "Look, what you're feelin', it happens all the time with parents-to-be, that's all I'm sayin'. Oh, and tell Luke you're pregnant, cause he's not gonna appreciate it if you don't."

Padme couldn't help giving a tiny snicker. "He's right, Rianna."

"Course I am," said Han, lying back down. "Now can I get some sleep or are you guys gonna keep talkin' all day?"

Padme smiled at the younger woman. "Well, can he?"

Rianna gave a long, exhausted sigh. "Yeah, I guess he can." She too lay back down. "I'm tired too – I really didn't sleep well at all last night."

"I'm sure," said Padme, gently patting Rianna's shoulder as she got up from the bed. "Who knows, maybe you'll wake up in a better mood to tell Luke about his child." She strode over to Han's bed, where the former smuggler's eyes were already closed. "Have a nice nap, Han. I'll wake you both up in plenty of time for supper."

She headed for the door, but stopped and looked back at her children, appearing so peaceful as they drifted off to sleep. Yes, they were her children – the fact that they weren't blood related to her didn't change that. She now considered herself the mother of two sons and two daughters. Once more she was thankful that she had such a wonderful family, thankful that she was alive to nurture them.

And soon there would be a new grandchild.


	21. Chapter 21

"Destiny"

By EsmeAmelia

AN: Thanks as always for reading and reviewing!

Chapter 21

Rianna awoke a short time later. She pushed herself to sit up and stretched her arms behind her back, letting out a groan. Her eyes blinked slowly, revealing that Han was still sleeping, which brought her supposed pregnancy back to her mind. Almost immediately, she concentrated her Force senses on her womb, once more feeling that alien and yet familiar presence. _Something_ was there, that much was certain, but whether or not it was actually a baby wasn't yet confirmed.

The sunlight pouring in the window made her squint. Where were the others? They were likely still at the picnic . . . at least she _thought_ they were. She unwillingly found herself imagining Aramita at the door, waiting for her daughter to come out. Quickly her Force senses shot out, searching for her mother but finding nothing. It was probably safe to leave . . . assuming Aramita wasn't shielding her presence.

With only the slightest bit of hesitance, she grasped her crutch and slowly inched herself to her feet. She began hobbling towards the door, pausing for a moment when Han mumbled something in his sleep, praying that he wouldn't wake up and approach her about her pregnancy, but he made no more sound after that, so she continued on, using the Force to seek out Aramita and still finding nothing.

No one was in the living room, which made her realize that she wasn't sure exactly where she was going. She wasn't going back to the picnic – that much was certain – but where else _could_ she go? Her hand unconsciously went to her stomach, once more feeling for signs of a baby even though she knew they wouldn't come this early. Suppose she _wasn't_ pregnant after all? This suddenly made her realize that she wanted to know for _sure_ before she told Luke anything.

But how could she find out for sure? There certainly wouldn't be any pregnancy tests to be found. Maybe someone else with the Force could sense the baby as well? Immediately she thought of Aramita, which made her want to hit herself. She would _not_ go to Aramita for help.

But there was another member of the family who was Force-sensitive. Would _she_ be able to tell whether or not Rianna was pregnant?

There was only one way to find out.

- - - - - - - - - -

Rianna hid behind a tree, shielding her presence from the others, peeking through the branches at the picnic. Her lips curved downward in disgust at the sight of Aramita chatting leisurely with Luke as if they were the best of friends. Why _was_ he so open with his future mother-in-law. Couldn't he _see _that she wasn't right in the head?

The former queen sighed. Her future husband was open by nature – that was one of the reasons why she loved him. If he weren't open, she might be lost to the dark side now. But still . . . did he _have_ to be so open with Aramita when he knew that his fiancee was uncomfortable with her?

Rianna breathed deeply, staring at Leia, concentrating on her, imagining her soul escaping the confines of her body and joining with Leia's. _Leia, come to the tree._ She breathed again, completely filling her lungs and then completely emptying them. _Don't tell anyone what you're doing, just come to the tree. _

For a moment she thought she wasn't doing it right, but then Leia slowly, awkwardly began getting up.

"Leia, do you need any help?" Roh asked.

"No, no, I'm fine," answered Leia, heading somewhat unevenly towards the tree where Rianna was hiding. Rianna felt her heart increase its beating speed, as if it was afraid of knowing for certain, afraid of confirmation that there actually was a baby growing in her womb.

"Rianna, what's wrong?" Leia asked the instant she was safely behind the tree.

Rianna gulped, suddenly embarrassed to be revealing her problem to a mother of three. "Leia . . . I need your help."

"With what?"

Rianna swallowed, putting her hand on her stomach. "I think I might be . . ."

Either Leia read her future sister-in-law's concern through the Force or she simply guessed. Whichever case it was, her eyes widened as she placed her hand next to Rianna's, pressing her fingers in one at a time, as if testing the softness of her belly. A tiny smile formed on her face as she concentrated on her future sister-in-law's womb.

"This feels like when I was pregnant . . ." the princess muttered after a few moments. "A little soul, still developing its body and yet already detectable by the Force."

Rianna knew perfectly well what that meant, yet something still compelled her to ask the question. "So I really am . . . you're _sure_ about this, right?"

Leia looked back up at her sister-in-law, smiling widely and confidently, as if she were willing to stake her life on Rianna's pregnancy. "Congratulations Rianna, you're going to be a mother."

- - - - - - - - - - - -

"Luke?"

The word slipped out of Rianna's mouth without any preparation. The family was getting ready for bed; the room was lit up only by a single candle on each of the six nightstands. Luke was already settled in under the covers, but he perked up when he heard his fiancee address him. "What is it, honey?" he said in a relaxed tone.

Rianna gulped, her Force senses once more brushing the little life inside her. Her eyes darted around, able to see very little of the others, yet feeling the weight of their eyes nonetheless. Without meaning to, she had gone and told everyone else about her pregnancy before she told Luke. What was he going to think of her when he found out about _that?_

"Luke . . ." she whispered, ". . . I have something to tell you . . . something important."

Luke was smiling up at her. "What?"

Rianna carefully sat down on the foot of his bed, hearing all the other mattresses creak in anticipation. Even Chewie was holding his breath – Rianna reasoned that Han must have told his copilot the news. Promising not to tell Luke didn't mean the former smuggler wouldn't tell others.

She would have to deal with him later.

Luke sat up, gazing in awe at his fiancee. "Come on, what is it?"

Two words. Why was it so hard to utter two words? She glanced to the side, where Padme was sitting on the edge of her own bed. The former senator gave a small nod of encouragement, urging her future daughter-in-law on.

Rianna slowly turned back to face Luke, whose smile hadn't faded. "Luke . . ." She swallowed, attempting to moisten her suddenly dry throat. "Luke . . ." She leaned forward, staring at his eyes. " . . . I'm pregnant."

For a few long seconds it seemed as though he hadn't heard her. He remained staring ahead as if she wasn't there at all, scarcely blinking, scarcely breathing, taking at least a full minute to focus once more on his fiancee's face.

"Y-you're . . . you're . . ." he stuttered.

He couldn't finish his sentence before the full impact of her news came crashing down on him. His real hand instantly reached over to her stomach, pressing on her skin with the same intensity Leia had this afternoon. Rianna felt his presence inside her womb, brushing the unborn baby with fatherly tenderness, as if he needed to feel the baby for himself in order to realize it was real.

"We're gonna have a baby . . ." he whispered, slowly looking up at his fiancee. "We're . . . we're gonna have a baby . . ."

Rianna slowly nodded. "Yes Luke . . . we're going to have a baby." Somehow saying "have a baby" instead of "pregnant" made it feel more real, more intimate, more like there was some_one_ inside her instead of some_thing._

Without warning, Luke let out a loud whoop and tackled her in a hug so forceful that they fell backwards onto the mattress. He laughed so long and so loud that Rianna almost worried that he would lose his voice. She heard the others squealing in delight, pretending that they didn't already know, yet she sensed that already knowing didn't reduce the thrill for any of them.

"We're having a baby," Luke repeated in a maniacally happy voice. "We're having a baby, we're having a baby, _we're having a baby!!_"

Suddenly Padme was on the bed next to them, patting them both on the shoulders. "I'm so proud of you both," she said, barely able to keep her voice calm.

"Congrats kid," Han called from his own bed. "You're gonna make a great dad."

Now Chewie was on the bed as well. Before Rianna could register what was happening, the Wookiee was squeezing her and Luke in one of his overly-tight hugs, roaring out his congratulations. In another second or two she felt Leia embracing her chest with her one good arm. She was certain that if Han could walk he'd be joining the group hug as well, but he was doing his part by whooping loudly. The notion of _family_ seemed to be penetrating her soul, telling her that this was where she belonged, in this family.

_Her_ family.

She didn't know there was someone listening outside the bedroom door, shielding away her presence, feeling neglected and alone.


	22. Chapter 22

"Destiny"

By EsmeAmelia

AN: Thanks all for reviewing!

Chapter 22

By the next morning, the entire tribe seemed to know about Rianna's pregnancy. It appeared that Roh saw no reason to hide the latest news from her friends, though how _Roh_ found out herself was unknown. Perhaps she had a little of the "Gift" as well, or perhaps someone from the family let her in on what was happening. Whatever the case, the instant the family sat down for breakfast, guest after guest came into the house, all expressing their excitement about the new baby as if Rianna was a native to their planet.

"Oh my, R2," 3PO said after the fourth visitor came in to congratulate Rianna. "I must say I can't understand why everyone is so excited. After all, in some civilizations it is quite unheard of to reproduce before marriage."

R2 beeped smugly in response.

"Yes R2, I know Master Luke is to be married soon, but I still can't see why he couldn't wait until after his marriage to have a child. It is most absurd."

Meanwhile, Roh was endlessly gushing about the baby. "The arrival of a new baby is an especially important event here," she explained. "When a new life starts, so many possibilities open up. The child could be a storyteller, or a healer, or a leader, or anything else. It's a miracle, really." She reached over and took Rianna's hand. "You two _must_ see Elder Paku about this."

"What do you mean?" asked Luke.

Roh put her other hand on the father-to-be's shoulder. "It's one of our traditions for all expectant parents to visit our elder so she can bless the baby. Since she has the Gift, she can speak to the baby before it's born."

Luke and Rianna exchanged glances, but neither said anything.

"So an old lady's gotta talk to your baby," Han scoffed. "What'll she be sayin'?"

Roh shot a brief glare at Han before turning back to the couple. "I know you aren't part of our tribe, but since you've been staying here, it would mean a lot to everyone if you let Elder Paku bless your baby."

Rianna briefly looked at Luke, as if asking his permission to say something. When he said nothing, she replied, "Well . . . if it means that much to you, I suppose we could see her."

Roh let out a squeal of delight. "I'll take you to see her this afternoon."

"This afternoon?" Leia exclaimed.

"Yes," said Roh, nodding enthusiastically. "She'll want the blessing to be as soon as possible."

"Would I be allowed to go with them?" Padme asked.

"Of course," said Roh. "You're the child's grandmother, after all." She nodded toward Leia and Han. "And the child's aunt and uncle are welcome to come as well."

With her mouth full of food, Rianna found herself smiling, though she had a strange feeling somewhere far within her, something that wanted to surface and break through her happiness. Perhaps it was the fear that still hadn't subsided despite everyone's excitement. She couldn't deny it – she still wondered about what would happen when the baby came, still worried about her child's relationship with the Force, if it would be different from other Force-sensitives.

No . . . that wasn't the only thing gnawing at her. Her eyes wandered away from the table, through the doorway, where Aramita could be seen on the sofa, having refused to come to breakfast. She hadn't said one word to her daughter all morning, even though she undoubtedly knew about Rianna's pregnancy by now. Rianna didn't _want_ any more gushing from her mother . . . but there was something uneasy about Aramita's complete lack of dialogue when she had been so eager to talk to her daughter before. From the sofa, Aramita was looking at her daughter, but there was no obnoxious smile on her face this time. There was instead a look that seemed to communicate a mixture of disappointment, fear, and anger.

- - - - - - - - - -

That afternoon, Roh was leading Luke, Rianna, Padme, Leia, Han, and Chewie to Elder Paku's home for the unborn baby's blessing. Luke and Rianna wore identical deep blue robes, and Rianna wore a matching veil that covered her hair. Roh had explained that they were traditional garments for expectant parents, but fortunately for Han, she didn't make anyone else wear those robes, though she did insist that everyone visit the elder barefoot.

Elder Paku's small house was dark when the family entered. The windows were all shuttered, letting in only tiny slits of light, which meant that the group could barely see Elder Paku sitting meditatively in the center of the sofa. Han briefly wondered why in the galaxy she kept her house so dark before he remembered that she was blind. He hoped the darkness meant no one would notice him shifting uneasily in his wheelchair – the thought of blindness still brought back unwelcome memories of carbon freezing.

"I know why you're here," the elder murmured, her sightless eyes staring blankly ahead. "Sit down."

After momentarily glancing at each other, the group sat down on the floor opposite of the sofa, Rianna with quite a bit of difficulty, but she managed. It made Han feel rather uncomfortable to be above them in his wheelchair. He hoped this "blessing" or whatever it was wouldn't take long.

Elder Paku also sat on the floor. "The father has brought his family along, but not the mother. Tell me, why is Aramita not here?"

"She decided not to come," said Rianna, sounding like she was trying to come across as indifferent, but even in the darkness Han could see her tremble slightly. "Why, does she _have_ to be here?"

Elder Paku's mouth twisted. "It is just highly unusual."

Roh patted the expectant mother's shoulder. "Don't worry about your mother, sweetheart. I'm sure she's just shocked to discover that you're pregnant so soon after meeting you. She'll get over it soon."

Chewie growled that he thought it was more complicated than that, but neither Roh nor the elder seemed to understand him. It was probably better that way, Han thought to himself – he figured that the Wookiee wouldn't like being interrogated by either of them.

Elder Paku calmly held out her hands. "Will the mother and the father come forward?"

After glancing at each other, Luke and Rianna scooted forward, each taking one of the elder's hands even though they hadn't been instructed to. Han wondered if they were communicating through the Force and he was missing something important.

"Your child . . ." Elder Paku murmured, her hands slowly releasing the parents' hands and creeping towards Rianna's stomach. "The Gift . . . the Gift is strong in your child . . ."

Han thought he saw Rianna flinch the instant the elder mentioned the "Gift," but the former queen said nothing as Elder Paku laid her hands on her stomach and began chanting something Han didn't understand. Her usually-gruff voice became melodic and soothing, like a mother singing a lullaby to a child. The chanting went on for what seemed like several minutes before it gradually faded away, as if the elder discovered something she needed to tell them before she could continue.

"Protect your child," Elder Paku mumbled.

"We will," Luke said in a hushed voice.

Suddenly the elder's head shot up, her blind eyes growing fierce, appearing to stare directly at Luke even though she couldn't see. "_Protect_ your child," she repeated.

"With all due respect," said Rianna, "don't parents always strive to protect their children?"

Now the elder's sightless stare directed itself toward Rianna. "Protect your child," she said for the third time, seeming to be in some sort of trance. "Protect your child . . . protect your child . . . protect your child . . ."

"What do you mean?" said Luke, his voice betraying a hint of fright. "Protect our child from what?"

Elder Paku seemed to have lost complete awareness of the others. "Protect your child . . ." she kept repeating. "Protect your child . . . protect your child . . . protect your child . . ."

Now Rianna was trembling, and she was making no effort to hide it. Even in the dim light, Han could see her beginning to turn pale, as if she sensed something terrible in the near future. "I want to leave," she said suddenly, tugging Roh's arm.

"Dearest, we're not finished . . ." Roh began.

"_Now_," Rianna insisted, her voice reminiscent of when she would give orders as queen.

Roh sighed. "All right, all right." She helped Rianna to her feet as the others got up and headed for the door. As he waited for Roh to push him out of the house, Han found that he couldn't stop staring at the elder, whose stiff limbs were beginning to tremble as if she were having a seizure.

Finally Roh gripped the back of his chair. The others had left, which meant that he and Roh were the only ones to hear Elder Paku's final cry.

"PROTECT YOUR CHILD!"


	23. Chapter 23

"Destiny"

By EsmeAmelia

AN: Thanks as always for the reviews!

Chapter 23

It was a still, calm night. Several days had passed since Rianna's pregnancy became known, all of which were filled with laughter, anticipation, and visitations from strangers. The only one not participating in the celebration was Aramita, who had spoken very little since the revelation. Of course, Rianna hadn't sought her out at all, but previously that didn't stop Aramita from inquiring her daughter about everything in her life. Now it seemed that a very odd change had come over her.

But no one was worrying about that tonight. They were all asleep, safe in their dreams, undisturbed by the outside world.

All except one.

The one alert figure moved cautiously through the room where the guests slept, taking one step at a time towards one particular bed. With great hesitation, the figure carefully placed a hand on the bed's sleeping occupant. She would have to act quickly and quietly, before she had a chance to stop herself, yet she couldn't help staring at the sleeper's serene face in the moonlight for a good long moment, couldn't help feeling some regret for what she had to do.

But she pushed all thought out of her head. There couldn't be any thought, any passion, any emotion tonight.

There could only be action.

- - - - - - - - -

"AAAAAAAAH!!"

Leia woke up before the scream was even complete. She instantly sat up and opened her eyes, thinking she saw a figure running out of the bedroom, but it disappeared before she could identify it. Another scream followed, waking everyone else up. Padme, Luke, Chewie, and Leia scrambled over to Rianna's bed in time to hear her scream a third time.

"What's going on??" Han called from his own bed.

"I don't know," Leia answered quickly.

"Rianna?" Luke said desperately, grabbing her hand. "Rianna honey, what is it? What's wrong? Please tell me!"

Rianna only screamed again, appearing unaware of the family gathered around her. Her eyes were moist and foggy, producing small tears trickling down towards her ears. Quickly catching on that Rianna wasn't going to tell them anything, Padme removed her covers, revealing that the sheets were red with fresh blood, right where they covered her thighs.

"Get Roh, QUICKLY!" Padme yelled.

- - - - - - - - - -

Roh was fetched, and she drove all who were able to walk out of the bedroom while she took care of Rianna. The group sat silently around the living room, anxious about what might be happening in the bedroom. Luke was trembling in fear – even his mother massaging his back couldn't soothe him at all.

Leia felt like something was stuck in her throat. The shadow she had seen running out of the room wasn't leaving her mind. She hadn't been awake enough to identify the shadow's Force-signature, but the fact that there was now someone missing seemed to confirm the identity. She tried not to let horrible suspicions enter her head, tried not to think about what might be happening to Rianna's unborn baby.

After what seemed to be nearing an eternity of waiting, Roh stepped into the living room, a grave, solemn look on her face, making Leia feel like her heart was stopping.

"Well . . . she's going to be all right," Roh said in a low voice.

Luke immediately shot up from his seat, his eyes full of worry. "And the baby??"

Roh gulped, putting a gentle hand on Luke's shoulder, staring him in the eyes. "Luke . . . I'm very, very sorry . . . I did everything I could, I swear . . . but the baby . . ."

Luke's head was shaking rapidly, his body beginning to stumble backward. "No . . ." he said in a desperate whisper. "No . . . no . . . no . . . no . . ."

Roh took a deep breath, seeming to feel Luke's pain. "Rianna . . . I'm afraid she . . . miscarried."

"NO!!!!" Luke screamed, tears seeming to explode out of his eyes. "NO!" His voice broke down in sobs. "No . . . no . . . no . . . no . . . NO! NO!"

Leia suddenly felt empty, as if that single word _miscarried_ had taken away all her energy, all her spirit. Miscarried. What a stupid euphemism. Were doctors simply afraid to tell parents that their baby died, so they invented a word to cover it up? Cowards.

Luke, Padme, and Chewie were dashing into the living room, and Leia followed, though she wished she could be a thousand miles away, oblivious to her niece or nephew's death. Or even better, oblivious that her niece or nephew ever existed in the first place. What was the point of Rianna becoming pregnant if the baby wasn't even going to live to see its own birth, if its parents were never going to meet it, never even know its gender?

The lump in Leia's throat grew larger and stronger when she saw Rianna lying corpse-like in her bed, unaware for the moment of her child's death, the blood that might be her baby's remains still staining her sheets.

"I gave her a sleeping herb so she wouldn't hurt herself," Roh was explaining as she gently removed Rianna's sheets. "She'll wake up sometime in mid-morning."

Luke collapsed on the side of her bed, his face buried in his arms, sobbing wildly. "No . . . he gasped out between sobs. "No . . . my baby . . . no . . . not my child . . . _no . . ."_

Tears were streaming down Padme's face too, but she kept her restraint as she squeezed her son's shoulders. "It's all right, Luke . . ." she murmured, ". . . it's all right . . . I'm here . . ."

Leia sat down on the foot of Han's bed, feeling unable to go any closer to Luke or Rianna, the word _miscarried_ still pressing on her mind. Her hands gripped her knees, though her fingers kept trembling. They appeared to be turning white in the candlelight – but was it the light or her own nerves? She wished she could tell, wished she could at least be sure whether or not she was causing the paleness.

Suddenly she looked over at Han. He too looked pale. His mouth was hanging open, his hands were tightly gripping his covers, his eyes were staring blankly ahead, like a child afraid of the dark. Leia realized that he must have seen the entire process of Rianna's treatment, perhaps even seen the moment when the baby died.

"Han?" she said, concentrating on keeping her voice from shaking. "Are you all right?"

"Is the baby really dead?" he said in a low voice.

"Han . . ."

"Is the baby _really_ dead?" he repeated with a more desperate tone.

Leia knew what he wanted her to do, though she was fearful of it, fearful of that final confirmation, that final elimination of all hope that Roh might be wrong. She hesitantly turned to face Rianna's bed, where Luke was still sobbing hysterically and the others were still trying in vain to comfort him. Her brother's cries took her back to when her own babies nearly died in the womb, when she felt that same horrible devastation, that same helplessness. But _her_ babies were saved. Why couldn't a Jedi ghost have interfered _this_ time?

She listened to her own uneasy breath, trying for several moments to gain the courage to do what Han wanted her to do. Finally, with a long, loud inhale, she released herself into the Force, carrying her senses to Rianna's womb, clinging onto the feeble hope that she might still feel something.

But there was nothing.

No small life.

No tiny soul.

No baby.

Only an empty womb.

She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block the tears that wanted to escape, unwilling to make her brother feel worse by seeing her cry. "Yes . . ." she struggled to say, her voice coming out in a whisper, ". . . the baby is dead."

Han sat up, reaching over to his wife, who scooted up to him so he could embrace her. They squeezed each other, slowly gaining the tiniest bit of strength and comfort from each other's touch. Leia barely even noticed the pain from Han pressing against her broken arm, so intense was her emotional pain. She closed her eyes, able to absorb his hug for only a second before the shadow entered her mind again, seeming to insist that she knew its identity.

"But I don't think it was a miscarriage," she suddenly whispered.

Han abruptly pulled out of the embrace, staring at her, revealing that his eyes were moist. "What do you mean?"

Leia took a deep breath, leaning close to him to ensure no one else would hear. "I saw someone running out of the room when she started screaming. The person seemed to be panicked, afraid of being caught. And . . . you'll notice Aramita's not here at all."

Han's breath increased its speed. "Are you sayin' . . .?"

Leia gave the smallest of nods. "Yes . . . I think Aramita killed the baby."


	24. Chapter 24

"Destiny"

By EsmeAmelia

AN: Thanks as always for reviewing.

Chapter 24

When Rianna started to awaken, she instantly wanted her consciousness to fade away again. She could feel sleep still clouding her mind, enticing her to let it take her back. Her eyelids felt stuck together, requiring a massive amount of effort just to open them, effort she didn't currently possess.

She might have fallen back asleep if something in the back of her mind wasn't screaming at her, telling her that something terrible had happened during the night, preventing her from slipping back into restfulness. After what might have been several minutes of hovering between sleep and wakefulness, she finally forced her eyes to open.

She was lying on her side, facing the bed next to hers, where Luke was sleeping on top of the covers, lying on his stomach, appearing completely exhausted, a troubled expression on his face, redness under his eyes. As full consciousness gradually returned to her, so too did fragmentary memories of the night before. She remembered pain . . . horrible pain . . . agony, in fact. Blinking rapidly, she desperately tried to stop the _reason_ for the pain from returning to her, tried to remain in beautiful oblivion, but her hand was moving down to her stomach, and with it, her Force senses, feeling for her unborn baby.

Nothing.

Immediately she screamed, a long, devastated scream. Luke instantly awoke and rushed to her side, sitting on the edge of her bed and pulling her up into his arms as tears filled her eyes and sobs clogged her throat. "Our baby . . ." she choked out, the only words she was able to utter. "Our baby . . ." The words came out in broken syllables interrupted by her growing sobs that were beginning to interfere with her very breathing. She felt her fiance attempting to comfort her through the Force, felt his hands stroking her back, but her soul resisted the effort. There was no sense in comfort, no purpose of soothing.

Nothing had purpose except sorrow.

- - - - - - - - - -

Leia hunted through the woods, following her Force senses, her good hand clenching the lightsaber at her belt, her teeth ground in determination as she sought out Aramita's Force signature. She knew that Luke would give her a lecture about this if he were in a stable state of mind, but for now she didn't care. It wasn't revenge she wanted, she kept telling herself. The lightsaber was only for defense – all she wanted was an answer, an explanation, though even as she thought it, she knew it wasn't completely true. Despite her Jedi training, she knew she wanted Aramita to suffer pain not physical but emotional.

How she longed to hold her own children right now, to squeeze them close to her and tell them how fortunate they were to exist. How she wished they were here so she could see for herself that they were all right, even though her logical side knew they were much safer on Coruscant.

Finally she spotted a figure, immediately recognizing the Force signature pulsing from it. Despite the fact that she had an arm in a cast, she broke into a run. Her arm was healing anyway, and even if she injured it again, that wouldn't carry any weight against what happened to her brother and his fiancee.

Aramita stared at her with a completely neutral expression, her face blank and empty, as if she had no idea why Leia would want to talk to her. Her own lightsaber glistened in the sun as it dangled loosely from her waist, further reminding Leia that she would have to be cautious in her approach.

"Hello Leia," she said, a hint of that sickening sweetness still in her voice. "What brings you here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Leia growled.

Aramita shrugged. "It's such a beautiful day . . . I thought I'd go walking."

How stupid did Aramita think everyone else was? "You seem quite cheerful for someone whose daughter just _miscarried_," Leia said through her teeth, putting extra emphasis on her last word, on that terrible euphemism.

The older woman appeared almost taken by surprise, as if she were feigning that she knew nothing about what happened last night. "Oh yes . . . that . . ." she said vaguely.

"Was there any particular reason why you disappeared the instant her baby _died?"_ Leia's anger was growing more and more intense with every second in this woman's presence.

Aramita sighed, a glimmer of genuine sadness seeming to come from her. "I . . . I couldn't face it . . . the death of my little grandchild . . ." She stared into Leia's eyes. "You _must_ believe me."

"Oh, I believe you," Leia snarled.

"Good," said Aramita, her eyes brightening. "I _do_ hope you'll tell my daughter, and I pray that she'll forgive me."

"I'll tell her," Leia said in a low, steady voice. "I'll be sure to tell her and Luke about what you did last night." Within a second, she had activated her lightsaber and was now pointing it at Aramita's chest. "And if you _ever_ do anything to hurt my family again, I won't hesitate to run this through you."

Aramita remained calm – there was even a hint of a snicker in her face. "So your brother has taught you that revenge is the Jedi way?"

"So back in your days, killing your unborn grandchild was the Jedi way?" Leia retorted.

Aramita's amused expression abruptly vanished. Her face turned pale, dramatically contrasting with her black dress, and her breath shortened, breaking into gasps so tiny that she hardly seemed to be breathing at all.

"Yes, I know about it," Leia hissed. "I saw you last night. I think you used the Force to kill Rianna's baby, didn't you?"

There were tears at the edges of Aramita's eyes, glistening in the sunlight. "L-Leia . . . listen . . . I _had _to do it . . ."

Leia was momentarily taken aback – she had expected the older woman to immediately deny what she had done, not confess. "What do you mean?" she said steadily.

"I _had_ to do it," Aramita repeated, tears streaming down her cheeks. "You . . .you don't know what I felt."

"What do you mean?"

Aramita began shaking her head, looking at the ground. "No . . . no . . . you don't know . . . you don't know . . ." She seemed to be losing awareness of Leia's lightsaber, even of Leia's very presence. "I . . . I have to talk to her . . . yes . . . I need to explain it . . . yes . . . yes . . . yes . . . she'll understand then . . ."

And then she ran off, leaving Leia with a mixture of anger and bewilderment.

- - - - - - - - - -

Rianna lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling, feeling too weak to do anything else. Roh had told her that she lost a large amount of blood and had to refrain from activity for a while, but that wasn't the reason why she hadn't gotten up, and everyone probably knew it. She didn't see the point in getting up, not when she no longer had a child inside her.

_You didn't want the child, anyway,_ said a horrible, evil voice in her mind. She flinched, grinding her teeth together, struggling to banish the thought. A thick cloud of heat seemed to be enveloping her, causing her to sweat, but then it vanished, leaving the moisture to chill her skin. Then it came and went again.

How she wished Luke were here, or Padme, or _someone._ She'd even accept Han's company right now. Why had Roh insisted that the last thing Rianna needed was more stress and shooed everyone outside? Probably because they all assumed that she'd be sleeping for most of the day. Part of her wished she _could_ sleep . . . but then the rest of her became apprehensive about what kind of dreams she might have.

She closed her eyes, feeling more empty than she had ever felt before. Even when her father died, her sorrow wasn't like this. Then, she had wailed, screamed until she lost her voice, cried until she was drained of her energy. Some vague sense of reason told her that she was only thirteen back then, so of course she would have been more prone to letting out her emotion, but there was still some part of her that envied her younger self and its ability to release everything so completely. Though she had cried in Luke's arms only this morning, now she lacked the strength to cry, lacked the ability to release her devastation. It was as if her soul was dead but her body had forgotten to die with it.

"Rianna?"

The voice calling her name was like an icy shard driving into her ear, making her wish she hadn't longed for company a few minutes before. _That _person couldn't possibly comfort her, of that she was certain, even though she couldn't think of any reasons why not.

"Rianna sweetheart, I know you're awake. Look at me."

Rianna's eyes unwillingly opened, looking up at the face of her mother, who was bent over, uncomfortably close to her. "There there," she continued, stroking her daughter's face. "Everything's going to be all right, you'll see."

Rianna felt more ice in Aramita's every word. "How can you say that?" she choked out. "How can you _possibly_ say that?"

"There there," Aramita repeated, pushing a sweaty lock of hair out of her daughter's forehead. "It's all right. This is for the best."

"What?" The whisper came out of Rianna's mouth so softly that she wasn't sure if she had spoken it aloud. A dark, heavy cloud was growing in her head, fogging up her thoughts. Had Aramita actually _said_ that? Her mind was swimming, some part of her desperately hoping her mother's voice was a mere delusion.

"Yes Rianna," Aramita said coldly, "this is for the best." She sat down on the edge of her daughter's bed still running her finger through the younger woman's hair. "It's better this way. I hope you'll come to believe me."

Her every word contained such a finality, such a certainty. It was as if she had known all along about her grandchild's fate. Suddenly Rianna remembered how Aramita had been so distant recently, how she had seemed to resent her daughter's pregnancy. Her body began shaking as her mind put everything together with whatever sense it had left.

"You . . . _you_ did this?" Rianna's voice came out in a small, frightened whisper, a child's voice, a voice desperately hoping to be wrong.

Aramita gave the slightest of flinches, but otherwise gave no reaction. "Rianna, listen to me, listen _very_ carefully." She leaned over, staring into her daughter's eyes. "We are a mistake."

"What?"

"We are a mistake," Aramita repeated. "Our powers are _unnatural._ Your fiance thinks that the Force-sensitives are so gifted, but in truth we are freaks of nature who have no right to exist."

Rianna couldn't speak, couldn't even try to speak.

"You've seen how the dark side of the Force can corrupt," Aramita continued. "You know about the horrors Palpatine was capable of. You know how easily Darth Vader was swayed." She stared unblinkingly at her daughter. "The dark side has even tried to enslave _you, _sweetheart._" _

Rianna felt like she was gasping for air. "Y-you . . . you know about that?"

"Your boyfriend has told me a lot of things," said Aramita, clasping her fingers together. "All the hardships you went through when you first met . . . tell me, you wouldn't wish that on your child, would you?" There appeared to be tears on the edges of her eyes. "If the dark side had taken you . . . I don't know how I could ever go on . . ."

Rianna felt rage heating up inside of her, like a caged beast fighting to escape.

"The Jedi knew how dangerous we are," Aramita continued. "Though they undoubtedly meant well, they still sought to _control_ us because they knew what could happen if we were allowed to roam free."

"What?" Rianna said with hardly any voice.

"Think about it," Aramita said harshly. "No marriage, no children, no possessions, no hope for anything that even resembled a normal life. I was _there_, Rianna, and I was expelled simply because I loved your father."

Rianna glared up at her mother. "I don't understand why _he_ loved _you._"

Aramita sighed. "He would be ashamed to learn how much you hate me."

Rianna growled. "So you actually expect me to love you after you _killed my child??_"

"Yes," Aramita said simply. "I did it for everyone's good. In time you will come to realize that."

Rianna shot up to a sitting position, though it made her dizzy to do so. "If we have no right to exist, then why don't you kill yourself?? Why don't you kill me??"

The former Jedi sighed again, this time with an edge of discomfort. "You know I could never do that, sweetheart. Even if it _is_ the right thing to do."

With that, she immediately leaped off of Rianna's bed and seemed to flee out of the room, unwilling to listen to her daughter, unwilling to even acknowledge her daughter's devastation. She left like a coward. Rianna's eyebrows lowered as she growled at the door.

"You're not my mother," she whispered. "Padme is."

Then she broke down crying.


	25. Chapter 25

"Destiny"

By EsmeAmelia

AN: Hey, I know it's been ages since I've continued this fic. I've been having extreme technical difficulties, plus this was a hard chapter.

Chapter 25

Aramita didn't return to Roh's house that day, or the next day, or the day after. Although Roh had told the family that she had a tendency to disappear every so-often, they all knew that _this_ disappearance had to do with the baby – there was no sense in suspecting otherwise. Even Roh herself admitted it, since Rianna hadn't hesitated to tell everyone exactly why the baby died.

Han finally grew strong enough to walk on crutches. With Chewie's extensive assistance, they were able to start fixing the Falcon, finding that the damage wasn't as great as Roh had indicated. In just a few days, the Falcon was in working order again – which meant, to the entire family's relief, that they could finally leave this planet.

"Are you _sure _you want to leave?" Roh asked them at the dinner table the night before they planned to leave.

Han groaned. "I think I speak for everyone when I say we've all had enough of this planet."

"_More_ than enough," Leia added.

Chewie roared in agreement.

Roh let out a deep sigh. "Well I suppose I can't stop you . . . but what about Aramita? Doesn't she need your help?"

Rianna's eyebrows pressed down. "_She's _the main reason why we're going," she said bitterly, her eyes darting down at her abdomen. She had recovered from her miscarriage physically, but that made no difference emotionally, as she so often let everyone know."If she wanted our help, she should've thought of that before . . ." Her words drifted away, but everyone knew what she meant.

"Yes indeed," said 3PO, oblivious as always to the fact that his topic was sensitive. "After all, if she wants a good relationship with her daughter, she really shouldn't treat her like that."

Roh sighed. "But isn't that precisely _why_ she needs help?"

Everyone stared at Roh with suspicion.

"I mean . . ." the healer continued, ". . . she's always been so good to us. She taught us so much about your world, helped us learn your language . . . I just can't fathom that she would do something like this unless she was in trouble."

"She _is_ the trouble," Han muttered.

Padme agreed with her son-in-law, but always the diplomat, she felt she had to say something to ease Roh's mind. "Roh, Luke and Rianna have a wedding they need to plan. Leia and Han have children they want to see again. It makes sense for us to leave now."

Roh's blue face appeared hurt, yet understanding. "Yes . . . it does make sense from that perspective." She cleared her throat. "Well, I wish you the best of luck tomorrow. I hope you'll come back and visit sometime."

"Not a chance," Han mumbled, though Roh ignored him.

- - - - - - - -

Padme knew she wouldn't sleep well tonight – if she slept at all. She didn't think anyone had slept well since the baby's death. The nightmares that had haunted her were probably affecting everyone else, especially the would-be parents, as was evidenced by the dark circles under their eyes and the generally moody nature that was present in every member of the family. Padme was starting to have difficulty believing that not so long ago there had been such happiness in this very room.

She buried her head under the covers, seeing little purpose in trying to sleep. _We're going home tomorrow._ That seemed to be the only thought that would offer a shimmer of comfort. Tomorrow they would leave this planet behind, along with all the horrible memories associated with it. Tomorrow all this would be parsecs away.

"Padme?"

For a moment she thought she was dreaming of a voice and wondered why she had fallen asleep so quickly – before she recognized the voice and realized that she couldn't be dreaming because he never spoke as clearly as this except when he appeared. She immediately stuck her head out from the covers.

"Anakin!"

Tonight, however, Anakin's ghost didn't greet her with a kiss, didn't even smile. He wore a solemn expression on his face that seemed directed at Padme, as if he were scolding her for something.

"Padme . . ." he said softly, harshly, ". . . you can't leave yet."

"Why not?"

"Do you not _remember?"_ a gruff voice exclaimed from across the room. Padme's head snapped around, seeing the elderly version of Obi-Wan's ghost appearing. "There is a soul you have promised to help." His voice was unusually stern.

Luke slowly woke up, his eyes widening at the ghosts. "Ben? Father? What are you doing here?" he asked sleepily.

"Trying to talk some sense into you," Anakin replied.

Leia was awake now, sitting up in bed. "We _tried _talking to Aramita. She wouldn't listen."

"I'm afraid it's gotten a bit more complicated than that," Obi-Wan said, shuffling up to Rianna's bed. "Come come Rianna, I know you're awake there."

Rianna's eyes opened, but she gave no reaction to the ghosts, not even when Chewie roared in surprise. She appeared to be in a stupor of sorts, as if her mind automatically rejected any mention of her mother.

"What's goin' on . . .?" Han mumbled through a yawn, blinking slowly as he raised his head a few inches above the pillow, then abruptly slamming his head back down the instant he saw the ghosts. "Oh, _great,"_ he muttered.

Padme could already sense that trouble was brewing. "What do you mean, more complicated?" she asked in the calmest voice she could muster.

Anakin stared at her, looking hesitant to reveal anything.

"Yes, what do you mean?" Leia asked.

Obi-Wan continued to face Rianna, putting a hand on her head. "Rianna, do you know your mother's story?"

"She was a Jedi who got kicked out because she loved my father," Rianna mumbled as coldly as if she were reciting a history fact.

"That is only the barest of the facts," Obi-Wan replied.

"Like I care," Rianna grumbled, sinking down under the covers.

"Both your parents were very young when they met," Obi-Wan continued, ignoring the fact that Rianna hadn't asked to hear the story. "Your mother was a padawan learner on a mission to Naboo with her master. With the Clone Wars raging on, she was thankful to be on a peaceful mission for once."

"What was the mission?" Luke asked.

"The new Queen wanted a Jedi or two present for her coronation," Obi-Wan explained. "That was where Aramita met a young junior officer named Gerado Trenn." He looked intensely at Rianna, whose eyes barely showed above the covers. "They were both sixteen."

"Wait a minute," said Padme. "Are you saying that Aramita never actually finished her Jedi training?"

Obi-Wan nodded. "No, she never did. She abandoned the Jedi Order to marry Gerado when she was still a padawan. She never took the Jedi trials." He stroked his beard. "Perhaps that was what made her such an easy victim."

"Victim?" Rianna said in a hushed voice.

Anakin looked warily around his observers, his eyes darting from one person to the next before settling on Rianna. "I know you remember how Palpatine's spirit tried to take you, even though you keep trying to forget it."

Rianna sank under the covers.

"Is _that_ what's happened to Aramita?" Padme exclaimed.

"No," said Anakin. "Something worse." He gently grasped Padme's face with his specter hand. "Remember how I stepped inside your body once?"

"Of course," said Padme. "I was glad to let you do it."

"Exactly, you allowed me to do it willingly." Anakin was staring coldly at her. "In order for a spirit to successfully possess a body, the body must be willing to let it enter." Once more he turned his attention to Rianna. "If a spirit tries to possess an unwilling body . . ."

All the mortals seemed to hold their breaths at the same time – for several moments, no one spoke or made any sort of sound.

"What happens?" Padme finally asked in a hesitant whisper.

Anakin looked extremely hesitant to reveal the answer, but Obi-Wan spoke for him. "The two souls compete for control over the body." He looked down, as if this were an incredibly taboo subject among the dead. "The invading spirit drains energy from the inhabiting spirit like a parasite. If the invading spirit isn't driven out . . . it can lead to complete insanity."

Han's eyes were wide with suspicion. "So you're sayin' this whole attracting Palpatine's ghost thing runs in the family??"

"I don't know," said Anakin. "Perhaps she attracted him because he wanted someone who knew how to use the Force but hadn't learned how to resist the dark side. Plus, she's living on a remote planet where it's unlikely for anyone to see her losing her sanity. In any case, that distress call she sent wasn't a lie – it was real. She knew she was being overtaken by something, but she didn't know what. It was frightening her enough to seek help from anywhere . . ." He looked knowingly at Rianna. ". . . even to risk her daughter's life so the help would stay here."

"_She _caused the Falcon's power to go out??" Rianna shouted.

"That's it, she's dead," Han growled.

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow at the pilot. "You may not want to say that."

"Why not?" Han said in a disinterested manner.

Luke quickly intervened. "So . . . who was it that actually killed our baby – Aramita or Palpatine?"

Both ghosts were silent for a few awkward seconds. "It was . . . Aramita," Anakin finally said, "but listen to me, you have to understand what she was going through – what she's _still _going through."

"Oh _yeah_," said Han, rolling his eyes, "she's possessed by an evil ghost, that makes it perfectly okay for her to kill her own grandchild."

"_Quiet,_ Han," Leia snapped before turning to the ghosts. "She thought Palpatine would take the baby, didn't she?"

Obi-Wan nodded solemnly.

Luke sighed. "So what do we do? How can we help her?"

"Nevermind helping _her,"_ Rianna said sharply. "How do we help my _father?_"

Anakin put his hand on his future daughter-in-law's shoulder. "She won't be able to see Gerado so long as Palpatine's spirit is inside her. Furthermore, as Palpatine's soul slowly eats away at her soul, he becomes stronger. If he isn't stopped, he'll soon have complete control over her body – and then he'll be able kill as he wishes."

Padme struggled to keep her breath under control, tried not to think about how the kind inhabitants of this planet would be the first ones eliminated. "How can we stop him, Ani? _How?"_

Anakin fidgeted slightly, as if dreading the answer. "We're not entirely sure . . . but most likely . . . Aramita's body will have to die."


	26. Chapter 26

"Destiny"

By EsmeAmelia

AN: Thanks for all the reviews (again)! Sorry I disappeared from FFN for a long time – National Novel Writing Month took over my writing time yet again, plus my job keeps me distracted as well.

Chapter 26

The silence was immeasurable, persistent, nearly an actual presence. All six of the mortals were now sitting up in their beds, staring ahead, looking at nothing, as still as the ghosts. Padme suddenly felt empty, vaguely hoping that this was a dream even though she knew it was a useless wish.

Finally she forced herself to speak. "We . . . we have to _kill_ her?"

"We don't know for _sure,_" Anakin said quickly.

"But it is the most likely solution," said Obi-Wan, glancing at his former apprentice almost as if scolding him.

"Fine," Rianna said dryly. "What are we waiting for?"

__

"Rianna!!"

Padme and Luke exclaimed at the same time. 

Anakin gave the young woman a disapproving look. "Control your hatred, Rianna. Trust me, I _know_ the horrible things it can do to you."

Rianna folded her arms. "Well you just _said _we need to kill her."

"But not from passion," Anakin said. "_Never _from passion." He put his ghost hand on her head. "Rianna, killing from hatred tears away at your soul, I think you know that."

Rianna swallowed. "I _hate _her. I can't help that."

"Yes you _can,"_ Obi-Wan insisted.

"Do you think there might be another way?" Padme quickly asked.

"I don't know," said Anakin. "The dark side surrounds Aramita, making it difficult to see anything clearly."

Han folded his arms, frowning at the ghosts. "Well, so what if we _do_ kill her? Palpatine'll just find someone else and then the whole thing'll start all over again."

"Not _necessarily," _said Obi-Wan, though he sounded unsure of his own words. "It's possible that Palpatine's spirit may be weakened if he is driven out of Aramita's body."

"Possible . . ." Leia repeated, sounding as disbelieving as Obi-Wan.

Anakin leaned over his wife and gently touched her cheek. "Padme, if anyone can find another way, you can." He looked up, surveying the whole family. "_All_ of you can. I'm proud to have such a family as this one."

They all smiled at him, but none of them actually felt worthy of his compliment.

* * *

When they were sure the non-Force-sensitives were asleep, Luke, Leia, and Rianna crept out of the bedroom and sat cross-legged in a circle on the living room floor, knee touching knee. Without saying a word, they clasped each other's hands, closed their eyes, and released themselves into the Force.

Rianna felt herself tightening her grip on her fiance's and future sister-in-law's hands as her consciousness began to drift into the Force, trying to find Aramita. She breathed steadily, struggling to ignore the fear creeping into her and the memories of the horrors she had experienced when releasing herself before. With each exhale, she relaxed her body, focusing . . . focusing . . . focusing . . . concentrating . . . concentrating . . . concentrating . . .

An image materialized in her mind. She saw a hazy vision of Aramita, standing on a cliff. The wind was blowing her hair into her face, concealing her eyes, yet Rianna could feel intensity coming off of her. Intensity . . . but what kind? Anger? Sadness? Fear? Rianna thought for a moment that her mother intended to jump – she almost wished that she _would _jump and save everyone else the trouble of killing her, but no sooner had she thought of that then she felt something scolding her, lightly tapping her soul, as if Anakin's ghost had crept into her mind.

Perhaps he had. Rianna wouldn't be surprised if that were true.

Aramita didn't jump – she merely stared out into the distance, as if waiting for something. Rianna breathed in long heaves, focusing all her consciousness on her mother, hovering over her, staring at her, struggling to figure out what she was doing, but when she attempted to look closer, there was a cloud in her vision, as if a thick mist was surrounding Aramita's figure, making it impossible to penetrate her mind.

__

The dark side . . .

Rianna swallowed, feeling the cloud trying to push her away, shove her back into her own body, back in the physical world, but she concentrated on remaining, though it was becoming more difficult with every second. It felt like a gust of wind was trying to blow her away. She ground her teeth, seeing Aramita's image becoming more and more blurry, as if she were disappearing into the mist that surrounded her. Something was pulling Rianna back, as if a pair of unseen hands was dragging her back into the real world, and though she fought, pushed herself forward through the mist, the backward pull was winning.

__

"Rianna . . . Rianna . . . help . . . before it's too late . . ."

She knew the voice, but it didn't seem to be coming from the mist, which by now was so thick that all she could see within her head was the grayness. Nor could she hear it with her actual ears. It felt like it was coming from somewhere deep within the border between the physical world outside her mind and the meditative world inside it, lost, trapped between the two realities.

__

"Rianna . . . help . . ."

Her first instinct was to ignore the voice – the voice she despised so completely, but again she felt something intangible scolding her for the very thought. So she listened, though she suspected that her physical face was probably scowling. By now she felt like she was flying through the mist, whipped into the air by a ferocious wind, knowing that it would be perhaps only a few seconds before she returned to the real world, but still she strained to hear her mother's voice.

__

"Rianna . . . kill me . . ."

With those two words, Rianna's eyes snapped open, back in the real world, once more aware of the wooden floor on which she sat and the hands of her fiance and future sister-in-law which she was grasping. The moonlight was peering in the window, giving the room an eerie glow.

"What did you see?" she gasped out at the other two, only then realizing that she was short of breath.

Luke and Leia opened their eyes in unison, coming out of their meditative trances as easily as if they were simply walking from one room to another. They released Rianna's hands, making them feel cold. "I saw her standing on a cliff," said Leia, a worried look in her eyes.

"So did I," said Luke, "but she was . . . difficult to see."

Rianna warily shifted her eyes between her two companions. "Did she . . . speak to either of you?"

"No," said Luke.

"No," said Leia.

Rianna gulped, having to briefly close her eyes again in order to control her breath. "She spoke to me . . ." she whispered.

Luke squeezed his fiancee's hand, giving her his warmth. "What did she say?" he asked as gently as he could, though she could hear the tremble in his voice.

The former queen closed her eyes again, swallowing all the time. "She told me to kill her." The instant she spoke, doubt began to creep into her. Her vision was fading away like a dream – already she was hesitant about what the details had actually been. Perhaps her mind had filled in Aramita's words for her.

She would have hoped that Luke or Leia would have some explanation for her, but all they did was stare. Even in the dark she could feel the weight of their eyes, the sensation that _they_ were the ones expecting an explanation from _her._

"So does that mean I should be the one to kill her?" she asked lamely after what felt like several minutes of silence.

"I don't think any of us should be jumping to conclusions," said Luke. "And I _especially _don't think we should be talking about killing Aramita." He gave a very audible swallow, squeezing his fiancee's hand again. "Rianna, honey, I was once told to kill my father, but I couldn't do it. I don't want you faced with that same burden."

Rianna stared down at his hand, which looked pale white in the moonlight, unable to look at his face as she slowly, halfheartedly nodded. "Then we'd better wake the others," she said. "The dark side was already blocking her from our vision – we might not get another chance to find her."

Luke leaned to the side and kissed Rianna's cheek. "Rianna, it will be all right."

"No it won't," Rianna responded automatically, finally looking up, glaring at her fiance. "You know that."


	27. Chapter 27

"Destiny"

By EsmeAmelia

AN: Hey, I'm REALLY sorry it took me so long to update this fic. Life keeps getting in the way of things.

Chapter 27

"Han, come on, get up!"

Han groaned, squeezing his eyes as tightly shut as he could manage. "Not interested . . . sleeping . . ."

"I don't care if you're interested or not," Leia bellowed. "You're coming with us either way."

Han concentrated on keeping his eyes closed and his face buried in the pillow. "Broken leg. Can't walk."

"Oh come on," Leia said in an exasperated voice. "You've got crutches now, remember?"

"Too tired for that."

"Then fine, Chewie can carry you. We need you to fly the Falcon."

"What??" Han slowly opened his eyes to almost complete darkness – he could only make out Leia's shadow. "So we're finally leavin' this planet after all?"

"No," said Leia. "We need to find Aramita."

Han groaned. "Can't that wait until morning?"

"That might be too late." Leia slapped Han's covers. "Come on."

Han gave a long yawn, but he finally sat up. "Fine, sweetheart," he grumbled. "You're the boss, after all."

- - - - - - - -

The group was silent as they headed for the Falcon. Han dozed in Chewie's arms for most of the walk, vaguely resembling a child sleeping in his mother's arms. The others might have commented on that if they weren't distracted by the mission at hand.

The three moons lit their way, but it still seemed like a great distance to the ship. No one knew exactly what they would do once they found Aramita, but they were all armed, just in case they would need to defend themselves – or do something else, something no one wanted to think about.

Han woke up the instant they reached the Falcon, as if he could sense the presence of his beloved ship. Once Chewie sat him down in the pilot's seat, he was fully awake, ready for the mission.

"I gotta warn you – she's not used to low flying," he said to the others.

"Well she – I mean _it _– does everything else," said Leia. "Come on, this is the only way to catch up with Aramita – she could be miles away by now."

"Fine, fine," said Han. "But if she gets bruised again, it'll be your fault."

- - - - -

The Falcon flew low enough for the group to see the land, though the darkness made detecting a person difficult. However, light wasn't necessary, since three of the Falcon's passengers were seeking Aramita out with the Force. One passenger in particular was harnessing all her energy on finding her mother.

Her _mother. _That word felt like a curse to Rianna, a ghost that forever haunted her. She clutched the lightsaber dangling from her belt, the tool that might be used to defeat her mother . . . Palpatine inside her mother . . . whatever, it didn't really matter anymore. Nothing could make her feel any compassion for Aramita, not even the memory of her own descent towards the dark side. She _wanted _to just be rid of her mother, but every time she thought of that, Anakin's words came echoing back to her.

She closed her eyes, trying to imagine running her lightsaber through Aramita's body. If she kept it at a distance, nothing more than a vague fantasy, she could imagine it quite easily, but if she tried to picture any details – the sound of the lightsaber cutting through the flesh, the smell of Aramita's blood, her final gasps for air – her mind would freeze.

Then she felt it. The Force-signature she hated above all others. Her first impulse was to tell Han to turn the Falcon around and fly as far away as possible, maybe even leave this planet altogether, but the ghosts' warning kept her from doing so.

"Han, land the ship," she said. "I found her."

- - - - - - - -

Just like in the vision, Aramita was standing on a cliff, staring off into the distance, the wind blowing her hair and dress. She did indeed look like she might be thinking about jumping, but Rianna knew that if she had been planning to jump, she would have already done it. No, she had to be here for a different reason.

"So . . . you came," Aramita whispered, still with her back turned to the group. "And you brought the whole family."

Rianna gulped. "Yes . . . I did."

Aramita stiffened her back, stretching her neck. "You should leave, all of you . . . while you still can."

"Aramita, we came to help you," said Padme, slowly stepping closer to her.

Aramita gave a large inhale. "You can't help me. You can't drive this thing out of me." She slowly turned around, revealing eyes that seemed to be glowing in the moonlight. "The only thing you can do is run away.

After taking a deep breath, Rianna stepped forward next to Padme. "Aramita . . ."

"You dare call your mother by her first name?" Aramita suddenly exclaimed, her voice suddenly gaining volume and harshness.

Now Rianna felt her control wavering. "You don't _act _much like a mother."

Aramita walked up to Rianna until they were almost touching each other, a sickly sweet smile stretching across her face as if trying to rip it apart. "Sweetheart, you know I love you so very much. So very _very _much."

"Then _show _it!" Rianna growled.

Aramita's cold hand reached over and grasped her daughter's shoulder. "I am, my dear. You just refuse to see it. You hold on to your emotions so fiercely that you fail to see reason."

"Stop it . . ." Rianna whispered, feeling weaker by the second.

The sickly smile on Aramita's face grew unnaturally wide. "Come with me, sweetheart. You don't need them. They aren't your family, no matter how much you want them to be." She waved her free hand in Luke's direction. "Why, even if you marry him, they won't be your family." Her fingers crept up Rianna's neck, doing a slow, seductive dance. "_I _am the only family you have."

"Rianna, it's all right," Padme whispered.

"And _she _is _certainly_ not your mother," Aramita continued, suddenly pointing an accusing finger at Padme, who was glaring at her. "How can you possibly hate me so much that you would pick up someone _else _to be a surrogate mother?"

"She actually _cares _about me," Rianna said, glaring so hard that she could barely see her mother. "She cares about all of us – including you."

Aramita didn't acknowledge her daughter's statement – she only stared at the lightsaber dangling from her belt. "You . . ." she whispered with a slight hint of fear, but mostly with disappointment, ". . . you came to kill me, didn't you?"

Rianna gulped, feeling an urge to just slice off Aramita's head and be done with it, but she held herself back. Never kill from passion, she told herself once again. "No," she whispered.

Her mother's breath grew more and more heavy until it became a snarl. "You . . . you little bitch of a daughter! YOU UNGRATEFUL LITTLE BITCH!"

And she drew her own lightsaber.


	28. Chapter 28

"Destiny"

By EsmeAmelia

AN: Thanks for all the lovely reviews! I can't believe that this story still has followers after I've been working on it for such a long time. Anyway, let me apologize again for such a long gap between updates. Let me also apologize for this chapter being so short – I want to save the big stuff for the next chapter, plus I suck at writing battles.

Chapter 28

Before Rianna had time to think of anything, her reflexes took over and she drew her lightsaber. Her blade clashed with Armita's, purple against blue filling up her vision. The heat of the two blades drew sweat out of her pores. Close behind her, she heard Luke and Leia draw their own lightsabers, but they didn't yet engage in the clash.

Aramita growled like an animal. "You DARE to challenge your mother?"

"Aramita!" Padme called from somewhere Rianna couldn't see. "We know what the thing inside you is. We can help you drive it out!"

But it was as if Aramita couldn't even hear her. She kept glaring with hatred at her daughter. "Are you challenging me, _sweetheart? _ARE you?"

"I'm not challenging anyone." Rianna had to apply all her concentration in order to keep her voice steady, though her breath was coming out in heaves. "We are here to help you."

"Liar!" Aramita spat.

Suddenly a blasterbolt shot past them, inches away from Aramita's head. The mother and daughter both turned their heads around to find Han still in Chewie's arms, but with his blaster aimed at Aramita.

"That was a warning shot, bitch," Han shouted. "The next shot _won't _be!"

With that, Aramita stuck her hand out and yanked Han's blaster out of his hand with the Force. "Haven't you learned yet, Solo?" she said with a smirk, dropping his blaster to the ground.

"I'm a slow learner," Han growled.

"Indeed," said Aramita. With that, she jumped up, seeming almost to float up to the former smuggler, and pointed her lightsaber at his throat.

With that, Luke and Leia were upon her, pointing their own lightsabers at _her _throat. None moved for a few seconds, all frozen either threatening or being threatened, or both, the points of their lightsabers all ready to strike.

"Stop it, all of you!" Padme called, stepping up to the bunch and focusing on Aramita. "Aramita, I mean it, we can _help _you. We helped your daughter once when the dark side tried to overtake her."

__

Don't bring me into this,

Rianna thought, wishing she could somehow vanish from this conflict, perhaps wake up back on Naboo and find out that everything that happened on this nightmarish planet had been merely a dream.

But of course there could be no such fortune. Now Aramita snarled at Padme, reminiscent of a wild animal being challenged to a fight. "I could chop off your head right now, do you realize that?" she scoffed.

With those words, Rianna's reflexes sprung into action again. She jumped over to her mother and joined the throng of lightsabers pointed at her neck. "If you do _anything_ to Padme, I'll cut off _your _head!" she growled.

Aramita snickered, very reminiscent of Palpatine. "So once again, I learn that revenge is the Jedi way. Things have certainly changed since my day."

"Give it up," said Leia. "You've got nowhere to run."

"Oh, I beg to differ," said Aramita. With that, seemingly in less than a second, she leapt into the air, disappearing into the trees.

"If you want me, follow!" she called down like a child coaxing someone to chase her, the tone of insanity in her voice. She gave a wicked little laugh that seemed to be echoing throughout the forest.

Luke and Leia immediately jumped into the trees after her, vanishing in a mere second. Padme, Han, and Chewie stared up at them, trying to figure out exactly where they were. Rianna, on the other hand, could sense them. The three of them were drifting apart among the branches; the pursuit was slow.

Han growled. "Mom, hand me the blaster – I think I could still get her from here."

"No," Padme said firmly. "It's too risky – you could accidentally shoot Luke or Leia."

"So what're we supposed to do, sit here so we can catch any falling dead bodies?" Han exclaimed, glaring at his mother-in-law before turning to face Rianna. "And how bout you? How come _you _ain't up there with 'em?"

Rianna couldn't answer. Her lightsaber quivered in front of her as she stared up into the trees at the long sticks of light slightly illuminating the branches. They moved quickly, randomly, occasionally clashing, but most of the time chasing each other.

"Hey!" Han shouted. "Rianna! I'm talkin' to you!"

"I heard . . ." Rianna whispered, still staring upward, unable to say anything more, her eyes still fixed on the swinging lights. Leia's orange saber, Luke's green saber, and Aramita's blue saber dashed around each other in an odd, deadly dance. At least they were all still moving, which meant they were all alive for the moment.

"Rianna?" It was Padme talking now, a definite concern in her voice.

Rianna gulped, forcing herself to speak. "She's trying to kill them," she whispered. "I can feel it." Slowly she turned around to look at Padme, Han, and Chewie, breathing in heaves, intending to say something but forgetting just what it was when she saw the six pairs of eyes staring at her as if they were expecting her to perform some feat of magic.

She looked back up. Still three lightsabers in the trees, all three still moving, but the sense of danger was throbbing in her spirit, along with the shame of not fighting with them.

Why _wasn't _she fighting with them? Was it merely fear of jumping so high? Luke had taught her how to Force jump . . . it wasn't hard. But then again, when she was training she always knew Luke would catch her if she lost concentration and fell. In a battle there could be no such luxury – she could only rely on herself.

She closed her eyes, breathing deeply, harnessing the Force in her mind. The Force swirled through her body as she listened to her own breathing. In, out, in out. There was nothing else, no battle, no fear, only the Force.

Once she felt settled, she concentrated on letting the Force flow into her legs. Her legs . . . they were filled with energy, enough energy to spring her into the trees. With her eyes still closed, she bent her knees, crouching down, preparing to release her energy.

Then she opened her eyes.

And she jumped.


	29. Chapter 29

AN: I'm REALLY REALLY SORRY that I've neglected this fic. My computer stopped working for several months and then when I finally got a new one other projects were on the front burner and before I knew it a year had gone by without updating this fic. But anyway, now I'm back. Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed while I was away. The fic will HOPEFULLY be finished by the new year.

"Destiny"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 29

For a moment Rianna was floating, the Force pushing her upward, but once she grabbed a tree branch, gravity took over, pulling the rest of her body downward, making her stomach drop down. Suddenly all her weight depended on her hands and the branch they grasped. She kicked her legs, feeling like her body was stretching beyond its usual limit, trying to get some sort of foothold. When she found no foothold, her arms bent, straining her muscles, pulling her body upward onto the branch she had been clinging on. Once she managed to push herself onto the branch, gravity again wanted to pull her down, making her sway from side to side.

She focused on the lightsaber hums and clashes coming from a few trees away. Hopping from branch to branch, she made her way closer, until she pushed a branch aside and saw the three of them balancing in a triangular formation, all with their lightsabers pointed outward, ready to strike.

"Aramita!" Rianna called.

All three looked in Rianna's direction, not lowering their lightsabers. Aramita cackled slightly, that inhuman grin once again on her face, glowing an eerie blue in her saber's light. "Ah, Rianna," she said. "Have you come to join our little . . . gathering?"

"I'm not interested in fighting," Rianna said, after which she inhaled deeply, letting the Force flow into her.

"Well that's a shame, because that's what we're doing," said Aramita. "Oh well, I guess there's still time for you to leave."

"I came to help Luke and Leia," Rianna said steadily. "And I won't leave so long as they're in danger." She took a step closer, her feet wobbling on the branch.

Aramita smirked. "Oh daughter, daughter, daughter, you still don't understand, do you?"

Rianna gulped. "Aramita, I know how strong the dark side's influence is. It once tried to overtake me, but I fought it. You can fight it too, I know you can." Her words sounded feeble and unconvincing the instant they left her mouth, but she forced herself to keep going. "Fight it Aramita, FIGHT it!"

Aramita stood still for a moment, blinking at her daughter, momentarily looking pathetic and childlike again, but that was quickly replaced by a scrunched, demonic look and a low growl.

"Fight it," Rianna whispered. "Fight it."

For a moment Rianna saw something that might have been desperation in her mother's eyes, but then Aramita let out a blood-curdling scream, arching backwards. In a split second she whirled around and grabbed Leia by the arm that had been broken, squeezing until Leia cried out in pain and dropped her lightsaber. When the mad woman released her, she lost her balance and fell over, gripping the branch between her knees and with her one good arm.

"Leia!" Luke screamed, hopping from branch to branch to her side. In that moment of distraction, Aramita turned in Luke's direction, raising her lightsaber to strike.

"NO!" Rianna screamed. Her Force reflexes took over her body, sending her jumping in the air, lightsaber drawn. Without any thought, her saber came down on her mother's wrist, cutting off her hand, sending the hand and the saber spinning down to the ground.

Rianna landed in a heap, gripping onto a splintering branch, panting, her mind in a blur. She heard her mother give an inhuman scream that sounded determined to burst all ears around her. Within a second, still screaming, Aramita's remaining hand shot to the side, harnessing the Force to push Leia and Luke off the branch. Rianna leaned over her own branch in time to see them tumble from limb to limb until they landed with a loud thud on the ground, both unconscious.

Then she heard a cackle. A cackle that sounded like it couldn't come from any woman. The sound was Aramita's voice, but it seemed to have grown deeper, more maniacal, more masculine.

Like Palpatine's voice was mixing with it.

"Aramita," Rianna gasped, pushing herself up, "you can stop this . . . you can."

When she was finally back on her feet, her legs spread apart, each foot on a different branch, she saw her mother staring at her. The cackling had stopped, replaced by an eerie silence broken only by Aramita's shallow breathing.

"My daughter . . ." she whispered, slowly bringing up the stump where a hand once was, ". . . how could you?"

"I had to," Rianna said, looking into Aramita's shallow eyes. "You know that." She stepped forward, carefully balancing herself, never taking her eyes off her mother's. "Aramita, it's not too late. You don't need to let this thing overtake you."

A cold breeze brushed around them, chilling Rianna's neck. She inhaled, filling her mind with her father's lost spirit, then exhaled, releasing the image into her mother's mind. "Aramita," she whispered, "think of your husband."

Once her husband's image reached her mind, Aramtia blinked as if waking from a vivid dream, staring at her daughter. For a tiny moment, Rianna felt a small inkling of understanding, as if the real Aramita, the one she hardly knew, was finally breaking through Palpatine's barriers.

But it was only a moment.

Once that moment ended, a maniacal grin spread across Aramita's face, followed by that same cackle. "You're too late," she said between cackles. "Your mother's gone."

With that, the arm that still had its hand shot out towards Rianna. The daughter sensed what was coming a second before it happened, holding up her blade to defend herself from the streaks of lightening shooting out of Aramita's fingers. She squinted, barely able to see her blade absorbing the lightning, the purple blade and white streaks merging into a single blinding light. The weapon felt like it was getting heavier and heavier, slowly yielding to the lightening's pressure, pushing her body backwards. Aramita's cackle was echoing in her ears, drumming in her mind like a headache.

"_You know what you have to do . . ."_

The voice of her fiance's father whispered in her mind.

"_It's too late now . . ."_

The metal of the lightsaber's handle felt like it was digging into her skin. The lightening made the handle grow hot to the touch, taunting her more and more to let go, simply surrender herself to death and leave the world's problems behind.

"_Do it . . ."_

Why couldn't she move? She had to do it . . . Palpatine had overtaken Aramita . . . so why couldn't she move? What was stopping her? It just took a swing of her hands . . . just a swing of her hands . . . so why wasn't she doing it?

"_Her body needs to die if her spirit is to be saved . . ."_

Luke's face came into her head. Wasn't he once told to kill his parent too? He couldn't do it either . . .

"_Rianna, listen to me. You have to do it."_

But now the very parent Luke had refused to kill was telling her to kill her mother. Sweat trickled down her face as she tightened her grip on her weapon. Just one strike, that was all it took. Just one strike . . .

_I can't do it,_ she thought, sending the sentence to whatever spiritual plane Anakin's spirit was on.

"_Yes you can."_ Anakin's voice was gentle, a verbal caress. _"You're saving her, Rianna. It's the only way your mother can be free. The only way both of your parents can be free."_

Just then the lightening stopped, finally letting Rianna breathe. She slowly peeked around her lightsaber and there was Aramita, a wicked, inhuman grin on her face.

"Why do you stand there?" she said in that low, unnatural voice. "Like a frightened child? Is that what you _are, _my _daughter?_ A scared little child?"

Rianna closed her eyes, breathing through her teeth. "Aramita, I do this for you and my father," she whispered.

She jumped, again letting the Force control her body, raising her lightsaber over her head.

And plunged it into Aramita's chest.

. . . . .

Padme was kneeling on the ground, tending to Leia's arm, bandaging it as best she could with a strip of fabric torn from her dress. Leia was conscious now, but dizzy and cringing from the pain. Luke lay a few feet away, awake but clutching his head.

"There she is!" Han suddenly called, causing Padme to look up and see Rianna slowly climbing down the tree, her clothes torn, her hair disheveled. One of her shoes slid off as she pushed herself off the lowest branch, but she did nothing to retrieve it. As soon as she was on the ground, she sank down next to Padme.

"Are they all right?" she whispered, her face blank and pale.

Padme nodded. "What happened up there?"

Rianna stared ahead as if blind, her face emotionless for several seconds. For a while she seemed unaware of the world, as if she had simply shut down like a droid.

"Rianna?" Padme repeated.

Rianna blinked, her eyes finally focusing on Padme. "I did it . . ." she said in the tiniest of whispers. Her head sank down into Padme's chest. "I did it . . . I did it . . . she's dead . . ."

Her panting whispers dissolved into sobs as Padme wrapped her arms around her. A moment later Luke sat up and hugged her from the other side. Then Leia sat up and joined the hug with her good arm. Chewie even sat Han on the ground so they could both join the embrace.

"She's free now," Padme whispered.

. . .

Aramita's body was brought back to the village and her funeral was held the next morning. The Tanir natives cremated their dead like many cultures, so a large pyre was set up in the center of the village and Aramita's body was placed on top of it.

The natives and the guests gathered in a tight circle around the pyre, wearing the traditional ceremonial robes and sashes, and this time none of the guests complained about wearing them, not even Han. As Aramita's only family member, Rianna stood next to Elder Paku, a bowl of water in her arms, the swirl in her head making it difficult to listen to the elder's eulogy.

Did Luke feel like this when he took his first life? Did he feel empty, like his entire being had been shattered? She had never loved Aramita, she _couldn't _love Aramita, but staring down at her still, dead face, she felt like she was sinking. Insane or not, possessed or not, this was a dead face, its eyes closed, its muscles still, its mouth slightly open without any breath. Her arms were folded atop her torso, her wrists one on top of the other, effectively disguising the fact that she had only one hand. Rianna gulped, suddenly wondering if anyone had found Aramita's severed hand.

"All souls must make the journey from one world to the next," Elder Paku was saying, her blind eyes looking up, her hands on Aramita's pyre. "So the journey begins for Aramita. She came to us from another world, and now she travels to another still. Let us honor her."

Rianna felt like she was swallowing a rock as she approached that dead face with her water bowl. "The water is life," she said in a stiff, lifeless voice, "and the water is death. May the water bless you on your journey."

She took a handful of cold water and sprinkled it on Aramita's unmoving face. There were no flinches, no squirms, nothing. Rianna couldn't shake how incredibly _dead _the face looked. "She's free now," Padme had said only hours before, but how did she _know _that? What happened to a soul that was merged with another soul when death came?

No ghosts had appeared during the night; no voices from the afterlife were heard. There was no assurance that Aramita was "free," nothing to indicate that there was anything more to her than this dead, dead face.

And where was her father?

Was Gerado reunited with his wife now? Had she brought him back to sanity, or was he doomed to be a lost spirit forever? Again no answers came. Why didn't the ghosts have the decency to at least _tell _her whether or not her action worked?

Now Roh was approaching the pyre, waving a torch. "The fire is life," she said, "and the fire is death. May the fire bless you on your journey."

She lit the pyre, filling Rianna's nostrils with the thick smell of smoke. As the fire crackled, the flames expanding as it ate away at the wood, she found herself looking away at the far off trees, clouded by the smoke. She felt Luke's arms loosely embracing her from behind, but she lacked the strength to respond.

Eventually the smoke drifted up into the sky, vanishing into the air.

. . . .

Later that day, the Falcon was ready to return home and Roh came to see them off, still wearing the ceremonial robe from the funeral. She gave them the friendliest smile she could manage, though no one really felt like smiling back.

"I'm sorry things didn't go better," she said awkwardly.

Han twisted his mouth as he hobbled towards her on his crutches. "Hey, apart from the injuries and the possessed lady tryin' to kill us, it was a pretty good trip."

Roh grinned at him. "I must say I'll miss pushing you around in that wheelchair," she said, patting him on the shoulder.

"Well you can push someone else around." Han rolled his eyes.

Fortunately Roh chose to not respond to that statement, instead approaching Chewie. "Well, good luck Chewbacca," she said with a smile.

Chewie responded by giving her one of his big Wookiee hugs, which caused Han to roll his eyes again, though he did grin slightly this time.

3PO hobbled up to Roh, with R2 rolling slightly behind him, rather unevenly through the grass. "Miss Roh," the protocol droid said, "I must say it has been quite a pleasure to know you and your planet. Should we ever meet again, I do hope you will seek my service."

R2 beeped his own goodbye, and Roh patted his dome before approaching Luke and Leia. Leia's arm was back in a sling since Aramita rebroke it.

"I hope you two will be successful in teaching the others who have the Gift," she said. "Perhaps you will be able to protect people from suffering Aramita's fate."

"Perhaps," Leia said, sounding unsure.

"We _will _be able to," Luke said, putting his real hand on his sister's shoulder.

Leia looked at him with her mouth twisted. "Luke, why do you think you have any right to make a promise like that after what just happened?"

Luke gave a tiny sigh, shaking his head a bit. "Leia, even though you're a Jedi Knight now, you still have things to learn." He patted her shoulder. "We _will _be able to help the other Force-sensitives, you need to have faith in that."

Leia had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes. "Luke, we've had to deal with Palpatine after his death _twice._ What makes you think this won't be a never-ending battle with his ghost. He's already dead, so we can't kill him. How can you have faith that we won't be chasing his spirit as he finds one victim after another?"

"All the more reason to teach our students how to resist the dark side," Luke replied, looking her in the eye. "And remember what Ben and Father said? Something about Palpatine's spirit being weaker after attempting to possess someone? Maybe he won't have the energy to claim other victims after this."

Leia sighed. "Perhaps."

Han sighed with her. "That's a great big 'perhaps' there, kid."

Luke looked over at him. "Well would you prefer it if we _don't _try and risk Palpatine actually succeeding?"

"No kid," said Han, leaning on his right crutch. "I'm just sayin' not to get deluded."

"I'm not," said Luke. "I'm just saying it's important to try."

"That's the spirit," said Roh as she patted Luke's shoulder. "Good luck with your wedding. I'm sure you and Rianna will make a fine couple."

"Thanks," said Luke, managing to smile at her.

Roh smiled back at Luke before approaching Padme, who was by Rianna's side, as she had been for most of the day. "Well Padme," Roh said, still smiling, "you're certainly an interesting person."

Padme awkwardly twisted her mouth.

"I mean it," said Roh. "You've survived your husband losing his mind, such a long time frozen, losing your husband – things most people can't even imagine." She reached over and patted Rianna's shoulder. "Rianna couldn't ask for someone better to be her mother."

For a moment Rianna stared at her with her eyes wide, then a tear slowly trickled down her face. "I'm sorry . . ." she whispered in the softest of voices.

"For what?"

"For _what?" _Rianna exclaimed. "What do you mean 'for what'? I killed your friend – doesn't that matter to you?"

Roh lowered her eyes and gave a tiny shake of her head. "You did what had to be done. Were it not for you, she would have descended completely into madness and been a danger to everyone."

Rianna's eyes widened in disbelief. "So you can brush it off as easily as that?"

Roh shrugged. "Death is not an ending – it is merely a journey. You saved Aramita's spirit with your brave act."

Rianna choked out her words as more tears ran down her face. "Don't say that, please. Just don't."

"All right," said Roh. Before Rianna could protest, she reached over and hugged her. "Don't dwell on the past. Think about your future. You have a wedding coming up, after all."

Rianna said nothing, but she did briefly hug Roh back.

Roh kept her arms around Rianna as she looked up at the others. "Come on everyone, I want a goodbye hug."

Padme joined in the hug right away, then after looking at each other, Luke, Leia, Chewie, and Han joined too while the droids looked on.

"I say, R2," said 3PO, "sometimes humans act quite strange, don't they?"

"Oh," said Padme after the embrace ended, "we have something for you." She reached into her pocket, pulled out a small communicator, and handed it to Roh. "Do you know what this is?"

Roh stared at it like an excited child. "A pocket communicator – Aramita told us about them."

"Yes," said Padme. "You can use it to keep in touch with us."

Roh leapt into another hug with Padme. "You can be sure I will."

After a brief lesson on how to use the communicator and a few more goodbyes, the group ascended up the Falcon's ramp, looking back to wave a few times. Roh watched as the ship rose up into the sky, not looking away until it disappeared into the sky.


	30. Chapter 30

AN: Uh . . . did I say this fic would be finished before the new year? I meant New Years 2013, of course, you knew that, right? ;) Anyway, thanks for all the reviews! It's nice to have such patient fans. Btw, since at least one reviewer seemed confused about something in the last chapter, Rianna did NOT stay on Tanir. It wasn't until after I had posted the chapter when I realized that I had accidentally typed "Rianna" instead of "Roh" at the end (gah, I have too many R names). Of course the error's been fixed now.

"Destiny"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 30

_Six months later._

"Han, could you help me out here?"

Luke was pacing around the mens' dressing room, fumbling with his tie, wondering what had possessed him to wear a tie to his wedding anyway. Did he just want to wear a tie because everyone else wore ties to their weddings? Did any man in the universe seriously _like _ties?

He found his best man in front of a mirror, having just finished doing his own tie in a rather lopsided fashion and wearing a disgruntled expression. Luke knew Han hated dressing up and probably hadn't done so since his own wedding, but he was being the good best man and wearing a tan suit for Luke's.

"Han, could you _please _help me?" Luke repeated.

Han looked at his brother-in-law, forcing a smile at him. "Sure kid, what do you need?"

Luke held up his tie.

"Oh, _that," _Han groaned. "Ya know, you could've had a casual dress wedding."

"I know, but, well, my bride's a queen and all . . ."

"Yeah, I know." Han reached out and grabbed the tie. "Well I'll see what I can do, but don't expect much."

As Han attempted to get Luke's tie on right, the door suddenly slid open, causing all heads to turn towards it.

"Hey!" Han called. "No women allowed!"

"Oh come on," Padme said as she strode into the room. "The groom can make an exception for his mother, can't he?"

Luke grinned over at his mother. "Of course he can."

Padme grinned back at her son as she made her way up to him. "Luke, is that any way to wear a tie?"

Luke brushed the tie between his fingers. "Well, you know, Han did it."

"I can tell." Then in a swift move, Padme undid the tie and tied it on exactly right. "There, all handsome for your wedding." After admiring him for a second, she wrapped her arms around her son and kissed his cheek. "Today's the day."

Luke gave an embarrassed grin. "I know that, Mother."

Padme patted her son's shoulder. "Nervous?"

"Terrified."

"Good," said Padme, giving him her motherly grin. She gently pushed a strand of Luke's hair behind his ear. "You're going to be a great husband, I know it."

"I hope," Luke said, blushing slightly. "So . . . how's Rianna doing?"

"She's fine," said Padme, though her mouth twisted slightly. "I think she's relieved that this day's finally here." Her eyes momentarily glanced downward. "Is she still having those nightmares?"

Luke sighed. "Not as often as before . . . but she woke up crying a few nights ago and she wouldn't let me hold her."

Padme shrugged, shaking her head. "Well, maybe today will help her recover." She put her hand back on Luke's shoulder. "Be there for her, Luke."

. . .

The Theed palace, once home, now a wedding chapel packed full of people, some of whom the family probably didn't even know, but were invited because of their high standing. Padme wondered if Leia and Han's wedding had been this crowded, if there were people sitting hip-to-hip taking up every available seat. It probably was.

The flower girls, Jaina and little Padme, were skipping down the aisle in their yellow dresses, sprinkling their flower petals on the floor and in a few guests' laps. The sunlight pouring in from the large windows made the little jewels on their dresses sparkle.

Next came Jacen, the ring bearer, walking step by step, seemingly concentrating on not letting the rings fall off the pillow. Padme grinned at the sight. She was sure some people thought the children were far too young to be in the wedding and they wouldn't remember it when they got older anyway, but to her they were perfect for their roles.

Now it was the bridesmaids' turn. Leia led the way, followed by Pooja, and as the matron of honor, Padme brought up the rear. Her stride was long, her body straight, her face smiling. She was sure there were several holocameras focusing on her now, but she didn't care. The whole galaxy might have been watching, but this day belonged to her family.

When she reached the alter, she winked at her son, who winked back, now looking like all thoughts about his tie had vanished from his head. Next to him, the best man Han and the groomsmen Chewie and Lando grinned at her. After nodding at them, she took her place on the bride's side of the alter and joined everyone else in staring down the aisle, waiting for the bride to appear.

And when the bride appeared, all the guests stood up in unison, all eyes on Rianna as she strode down the aisle in her lavender gown. How long ago had it been when they had purchased the gown together, a mere few minutes before they were given that mission to Tanir? So much had happened since then that it felt like another world.

Rianna strode closer and closer, gradually letting Padme see the smile on her face. Once the bride reached the alter, she handed her flowers to her matron of honor and stood facing the groom, who smiled back at her in a relieved manner, as if he were afraid that she would change her mind at the last minute.

Padme hardly listened to Mon Mothma performing the ceremony, instead she gazed at the lovers finally being united, watching them smile at each other, listening to them recite their vows while staring into each other's eyes.

"Luke Skywalker and Rianna Trenn," Mon Mothma finished, "by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss."

The instant their lips touched, the crowd broke into wild applause and Padme joined them a moment later. The crowd, the bridesmaids, the groomsmen, even the children were applauding, but it seemed that the bride and the groom took no notice. Luke and Rianna were instead caught in the moment for which they had waited so long. Perhaps it was a full minute or more before their lips finally separated.

And once their lips separated, they both turned to smile at Padme.

. . .

The guests had gone to the reception, but those who had been in the wedding had to wait on the food while wedding holos were taken. The holographer wanted the bride and groom to pose together, the bride to post with the bridesmaids, the groom to pose with the groomsmen, the matron of honor to pose with the best man, the flower girls and ring bearer to pose together, the groom to pose with his mother and sister, the whole group to pose together, so many holos that Han muttered to Padme that the holographer was trying to keep them away from the food.

But finally they finished taking the holos, and now they were lined up outside the dining room, waiting to be announced.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Mon Mothma's voice boomed over the speakers, "please welcome the groomsmen, Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian."

Chewie and Lando strode into the dining room. Padme heard the crowd breaking into applause for a moment before Mon Mothma's voice came again.

"Please welcome the bridesmaids, Leia Organa Solo and Pooja Naberrie."

Leia and Pooja entered the dining room, again greeted by applause as they took their places at the newlyweds' table.

"Our turn next," Han whispered to Padme, taking her arm in his.

Mon Mothma's voice echoed through the speakers again. "Please welcome the matron of honor Padme Naberrie Amidala and best man Han Solo."

Arm in arm, Padme and Han strode through the doorway, waving at the applauding guests. Jaina and Jacen called out, "Daddy! Nana!" from Ryoo and Siran's table, while little Padme called, "Auntie Padme! C'usin Han!" From their corner, 3PO waved his metal hand and R2 beeped happily. Padme heard Jar Jar shouting, "Padme! Hannie!" from his table. She quickly turned to look at Han and, sure enough, he was grimacing. He had never gotten used to the nickname Jar Jar had given him.

Once she and Han took their seats, Padme next to Leia and Han next to Chewie with the empty seats for the bride and groom between them, Han immediately dug into the meat on his plate.

"Han," Leia hissed, even though she was three seats away from her husband, "what do you think you're doing?"

"Eatin'," Han whispered back, barely legible with his mouth full.

"Luke – and – Rianna – aren't – here – yet," Leia hissed, stressing every word as if scolding a child.

"So?"

Fortunately, Mon Mothma's voice interrupted their argument, booming louder than before.

"And finally, welcome the newlyweds, Luke and Rianna Skywalker."

When the bride and groom entered, the whole room stood up and broke into vigorous applause. It took them quite a time to get to the table, given that every few feet someone wanted to congratulate them or hug them or shake their hands. Padme's hands were beginning to hurt from clapping, but she kept on applauding. No one sat down or stopped applauding until Luke and Rianna finally reached the table, and even then it took several moments for the applause to fade away.

"Congratulations!" Padme exclaimed as soon as Rianna was seated beside her.

Rianna immediately threw her arms around her now-official mother-in-law, hugging her perhaps tighter than she ever had before.

"You're really my mother now," Rianna whispered.

Though she smiled at her new daughter-in-law, Padme felt uneasiness somewhere deep down. Rianna's words had stimulated thoughts of the mother she had to kill. She swallowed, trying to drive the thoughts out, telling herself she shouldn't spoil this happy day, but still she wondered what had become of Aramita and Gerado's souls.

. . .

The food had been eaten, the cake had been served, and the bride and groom had danced. Now nearly all the guests had risen for the second dance, where, in accordance with Naboo tradition, Padme was dancing with Luke. The music was light and bouncy, leading the dancers into a sort of jig. Padme could feel sweat starting to ooze out of her forehead and her muscles were starting to get sore, but she didn't care. In fact, she picked up her pace, leading Luke weaving through the couples – almost running into Han and Leia and one point – past the band, past the half-gone cake, past the tall windows . . . but then a blue spark passed her eye and she abruptly stopped.

"What?" Luke asked.

Padme said nothing – she merely pointed in the direction of two potted plants. At first there was nothing, but then a figure slowly emerged from the air.

"Father," Luke breathed as a grin formed on his face.

Anakin's ghost smiled back at his son and put his spirit hand on Luke's shoulder. "Congratulations, Luke." He gazed past his son. "Where's the bride?"

"Dancing with Pooja, I think," said Luke. "Why?"

Anakin grinned eerily. "I have a surprise for her."

Luke quickly waved his hand in Padme's direction, but Padme was ahead of him. She immediately began weaving through the different couples, nearly colliding with a few of them, in search of Rianna. When she found the bride dancing with Pooja, she nearly collided with them as well.

"Rianna!" Padme said, slightly out of breath. "Someone wants to see you."

"Who?" Rianna said in a rather frazzled voice.

"You'll see," said Padme, offering her hand. "Come on."

At first Rianna just looked confused, but then Pooja put her hand on her shoulder and said, "Go on," so Rianna took Padme's hand and let her lead her wherever she would.

When Padme and Rianna reached the plants, Leia and Han were already there, apparently having noticed the ghost and ceased their dancing. Rianna's eyes widened when she saw Anakin, but she said nothing. Despite Padme's lack of Force-sensitivity, she could see all too clearly that Rianna's nervousness came not from seeing a ghost, but from the news the ghost might bring.

"Hello, daughter-in-law," said Anakin, smiling gently at her.

Rianna swallowed, stimulating Padme to squeeze her hand.

"Congratulations," Anakin continued. "I'm sure you and Luke will have a wonderful marriage."

Rianna opened her mouth, perhaps to thank him, but her lips remained parted for a moment or two before she spoke, and when she did speak, it wasn't a thank you that came out, but instead a "What do you want?"

Anakin's smile went from comforting to mischievous. "You know, there was once a time when I would have choked you for saying that, but those days have passed. Anyway, I have a wedding surprise for you."

He didn't wait for her to ask what it was – even in death he wasn't prone to waiting for things. He extended his arm and there materialized a pair of familiar ghostly figures, making Rianna gasp, unable to say anything, only able to stare at them and mouth, "Father . . . Mother . . ."

Gerado Trenn's ghost looked completely different from when they last saw him. He was smiling at his daughter, his eyes full of recognition and love. Only a moment after Rianna mouthed those words, he wrapped his spirit arms around his daughter, squeezing her with that intangible warmth that ghosts had.

"Rianna," he whispered, "my dear daughter, I'm so proud of you."

Tears were streaming down the bride's face. Gerado brushed his hand over her cheek, but of course he couldn't wipe the tears away. "There there," he whispered, "don't cry. This is your day."

Rianna still couldn't speak, nor could she stop the tears. Padme glanced around, seeing that Luke was smiling warmly, though at the same time looking hesitant to approach them, while Leia and Han were gazing at the father and daughter. Anakin's ghost was stroking his wife's shoulder with his pleasing warmth. But where was Aramita's ghost?

Padme had to look around again to find her, drifting in and out of the plants as if she longed to get lost in them, to become one with the leaves and never have to face the world as a human again, not even as a dead human. She stared ahead at her husband and daughter, never blinking, seeming unable to look away.

"Aramita?" Padme said softly and hesitantly.

Aramita's ghost only kept staring.

"Aramita?" Padme repeated. "Can you hear me?"

Finally Aramita looked at her. "Of course I can hear you," she said harshly. "After all, when one is _dead, _she has excellent hearing."

Padme had never heard a ghost actually refer to himself or herself as _dead _before. They would say they had "joined with the Force" or something similar to that, as if it were taboo to call themselves dead.

Aramita returned to staring at Gerado embracing his daughter. "Look at them. So happy now that he recognizes her again. Father and daughter once more."

Padme swallowed. "You could join them."

"Why?" said Aramita. "Seeing me may have restored my husband's sanity, but it also restored mine and made me realize that I'm not fit to be with them." She looked downward, as if she wished the floor could open up and swallow her. "I should be dead – well, I _am _dead – but I should be worse than dead. I should be _gone."_ She looked back up, again gazing in the direction of her family. "What I let happen to me . . . what I almost _did . . ."_

Padme took a deep breath. "Aramita, you family forgives you." She concentrated on producing a small smile. "I forgive you and I'm sure Rianna does too."

"She killed me," Aramita whispered.

Padme's smile faded as she concentrated on pushing away all thoughts of awkwardness. "It broke her heart to do so. Luke told me she's been having nightmares ever since then." She stared into the ghost's eyes. "She wanted to love you, she really did. I think she actually _does _love you."

Rianna and Gerado had ceased their embrace – now they were both looking in Aramita's direction. Luke, Leia, Han, and even Anakin were standing completely still, watching to see what would happen.

Then Rianna smiled and extended a hand in her mother's direction.

"Go on," Padme whispered.

After a moment's hesitance, Aramita stepped up to her daughter and wrapped her arms around her, after which Gerado wrapped his arms around both of them. Rianna closed her eyes absorbing the embrace from both her parents.

"Hey Luke," said Han, patting his brother-in-law's shoulder, "you're a member of their family now, shouldn't you join 'em?"

"Later," said Luke. "This moment belongs to her right now."

"Oh don't be silly," said Rianna, opening her eyes and extending her arm to her new husband. "Come on and _properly _meet your in-laws." She nodded at Leia and Han. "You too."

Luke practically jumped into his wife's arms to talk to her parents. After exchanging embarrassed grins, Leia and Han joined the group.

After watching the family for a moment, Anakin's ghost approached his wife, grinning at her. "Padme," he said, "you have a knack for bringing families back together."

Padme laughed as her husband gathered her into his ghostly arms and kissed her cheek.

AN: ALMOST finished. There will be one more chapter.


	31. Epilogue

AN: Okay, the story's FINALLY over. Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed over the years. You're the best.

"Destiny"

By EsmeAmelia

Epilogue

"Push!" Nia commanded. "Rianna, push!"

Back on Naboo, back at the hospital where Padme was born, again witnessing a grandchild's birth. She was holding Rianna's sweaty left hand while Luke held his wife's right hand, but Rianna paid attention to neither – all her focus was on following Nia's directions.

"Push!" Nia repeated.

Rianna ground her teeth as Padme wiped sweat off her forehead. She cried out in pain, her eyes scrunching shut.

"This is normal, right?" Luke said, staring wide-eyed at Nia.

Nia quickly nodded at Luke before turning back to Rianna. "All right honey, you're almost there, now PUSH!"

Luke held his breath as his wife screamed a final time, echoing around the room. The final push seemed to last a good thirty seconds, but Luke refused to take a breath until he heard that tiny wail, and even then his inhale sounded like a small gasp.

"It's a girl!" Nia called. "It's a girl!"

Luke suddenly dropped his wife's hand, taken aback by the realization that his daughter was actually here. Rianna was breathing in and out, a smile breaking onto her face, pushing out the words, "a girl" over and over.

Padme glanced over at the infant Nia was cleaning, but just as when Leia gave birth, she knew the first people to properly see the baby should be her parents. "I'll go get the others," she said, taking another quick glance at her granddaughter before leaving the room.

. . .

The Solo family was in the children's playroom, all of them asleep on the floor, curled up in the sleeping bags they had brought. Padme didn't understand how Leia and Han could possibly fall asleep tonight, but then again, they had three children with them.

"Everyone, WAKE UP!" she shouted, turning on the lights.

Han groaned and put his hand over his eyes in an attempt to shield them from the light. "Whaaaa . . .?"

Leia gave a large yawn. "Mother . . . what?"

"Come ON, sleepyheads!" Padme shouted. "It's a girl!"

"A GIRL?" Leia and Han reacted together.

"Yes, a girl! Come on!"

With that, Leia and Han shook their children awake and they all followed Padme back to Luke and Rianna's room.

. . .

When Padme and the Solos arrived, Rianna was sitting up in bed, nursing the baby, while Luke was squeezing his daughter's tiny wrinkled foot with his real hand. Both of them were gazing down at the infant as if hypnotized, tears at the edges of their eyes, neither one acknowledging the others' arrival.

"She's perfect," Luke murmured. "What should we name her?"

"Well . . ." said Rianna, glancing at Padme and the others before returning her focus to the baby, ". . . I'd be tempted to name her Padme."

Luke grinned. "Me too, but there are already two Padmes in the family."

Rianna gave a short sigh, stroking her daughter's pudgy cheek. "You're right." She brushed her finger over the baby's forehead. "Well . . . what about Mae? Just Mae."

"Mae Skywalker," Luke breathed, "I like it." He smiled down at his daughter. "Do you like it too?" he said in a high voice. "Would you like Mae to be your name?"

The baby made a muffled cooing sound without interrupting her drinking.

"Then Mae it is," said Rianna. She looked up and gestured in the direction of the doorway where Padme and the Solos stood. "Come on in, everyone. Come meet little Mae."

Padme practically raced into the room and up to the bed. She supposed the others were close behind, but the baby distracted her from checking. The child had finished her drink and now had a tiny drop of milk dribbling down her light tan chin, which her mother gently brushed away. She burped slightly, her light blue eyes opening and closing, as if trying to take in everything at once.

"Pr'ity baby!" Anakin suddenly exclaimed from Leia's arms as his older siblings leapt onto the bed in an attempt to get a better look at their new cousin.

"I like her," said Jaina, crawling rather close to the baby.

Luke smiled down at his niece. "I like her too, Jaina," he said, rubbing her back.

Rianna smiled up at Padme – it seemed that neither she nor Luke could stop smiling. "Would the grandmother like to be the first to hold her?"

Padme held out her arms and let her daughter-in-law gently place the baby in them. Though this was the fourth time she had held a newborn grandchild for the first time, but that did nothing to stop her heart from rising the same way it had the other three times. Mae looked up at her grandmother with those wide blue eyes, her tiny hand raising slightly as if trying to touch her.

"Hello Mae," Padme murmured, brushing the infant's yielding cheek with her finger. "I'm Padme, your grandmother."

The baby squeaked in response, making Padme giggle. "You look like your mommy and daddy, yes you do," she said in a high voice. "You're so sweet, so sweet, so sweet."

Mae opened and closed her mouth, fish-like, her eyes still looking up at her grandmother, reflecting the light in the room. Padme felt a lump forming in her throat, but it wasn't just because she was so happy to see her new grandchild. It was the same lump that formed when Leia and Han's children were born – the lump that came from thinking about her own childbirth and what had happened afterward.

Now Leia and Han were next to her, one on each side, though she hadn't noticed them right away, perhaps due to being distracted by the baby. Han was stroking the infant's forehead, but Leia was gently putting her hand on her mother's shoulder, as if she knew what Padme was thinking.

"She's Force-sensitive," Leia whispered in her mother's ear.

The news didn't surprise Padme, given that both of the baby's parents were Force-sensitive, but why would Leia whisper it as if she didn't want anyone else to know?

A quick glance at Rianna in the bed suddenly gave Padme the answer. She remembered why Rianna had been so against having children, why she once insisted that it would never happen. Her accidental pregnancy and miscarriage may have changed her mind about having children, but there was probably still some hesitance about producing a Force-sensitive child and possibly putting her in danger of the dark side.

She looked again at Rianna, who was biting her lip as she looked back at her mother-in-law, communicating that she had heard the whisper, and even if she hadn't, she already knew her child was Force-sensitive anyway.

"Are you cute?" Han was gushing, digging his finger into Mae's cheek. "Yes you are, you're cute. When you get older your uncle's gonna take you for rides in his ship, yes."

"_If _her parents let him," Rianna said.

Padme laughed as she handed the infant to her father, keeping her eyes on Mae as Luke wrapped her up in his arms and kissed her forehead, his eyes still moist. He didn't appear concerned about his daughter's Force-sensitivity at all.

Well, Padme thought, if she had learned anything from her various experiences, it was that destiny was never fixed. Whatever Mae's future was, it wouldn't come only from her innate abilities, and she wouldn't have to face it alone. Her family would be there to stand with her – her parents, her aunt, her uncle, her great-aunt, her cousins, and her grandmother.

She smiled at her son, knowing that he would make an excellent father.

Luke smiled back at her, knowing his daughter couldn't ask for a better grandmother.

THE END

AN: Wow, finally done. Sorry it took so long (years) to finish, but life has a tendency to get in the way. Well, as for what I'll write next, I'm not sure, actually. As of now there are no plans for a third story in this particular timeline, but you never know.


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